Gadolinium Photocatalysis: Dearomative [2+2] Cycloaddition/Ring‐Expansion Sequence with Indoles

Lanthanide photocatalysts are much less investigated in synthetic chemistry than rare and expensive late transition metals. We herein introduce Gd III photocatalysis of a highly regioselective, intermolecular [2+2] photocycloaddition/ring‐expansion sequence with indoles, which could provide divergent access to cyclopenta[ b ]indoles and indolines. A simple and commercially available Gd(OTf) 3 salt is sufficient for this visible‐violet‐light‐induced transformation. The reaction proceeds either through a transient or start‐to‐end dearomatization cascade and shows excellent regioselectivity (usually >95:5 r.r.), broad scope (59 examples), good functional group tolerance and facile scale‐up under mild, direct visible‐light‐excitation conditions. Mechanistic investigations reveal that direct excitation of the Gd(OTf) 3 /indole mixture gives an excited state intermediate, which undergoes the subsequent [2+2] cycloaddition and cyclobutane‐expansion cascade.