Palladium‐Catalyzed Carbonylative α‐Arylation for Accessing 1,3‐Diketones

With a hint of CO: The first Pd-catalyzed carbonylative α-arylations of simple ketones with carbon monoxide is presented for the direct synthesis of 1,3-diketones (see scheme). The method uses only stoichiometric amounts of CO, and hence allows for the simple installment of carbon isotopes into the core structures of heterocyclic compounds.