Silver‐catalyzed Double Decarboxylative Radical Alkynylation/Annulation of Arylpropiolic Acids with α‐keto Acids: Access to Ynones and Flavones under Mild Conditions

Ynones are privileged building blocks in various organic syntheses of heterocyclic derivatives due to their multifunctional nature, and flavones are an important class of natural products with a wide range of biological activities. We describe the catalytic double decarboxylative alkynylation of arylpropiolic acids with α‐keto acids. With Ag(I)/persulfate as the catalysis system, the valuable ynones bearing various substituents could be easily obtained. The introduction of hydroxyl substituent on ortho ‐site of α‐keto acids make this strategy further applicable to the construction of flavone derivatives via heteroannulation in moderate to good yields with a similar silver‐catalyzed system. The reactions proceed under relatively mild reaction conditions and tolerate a wide variety of functional groups. Control experiments indicated that both the reactions undergo radical processes. magnified image