Rhodium(III)‐Catalyzed ortho CH Heteroarylation of (Hetero)aromatic Carboxylic Acids: A Rapid and Concise Access to π‐Conjugated Poly‐heterocycles

Rh(III)-catalyzed oxidative C-H/C-H cross-coupling between (hetero)aromatic carboxylic acids and various heteroarenes has been accomplished to construct highly functionalized ortho-carboxy-substituted bi(hetero)aryls. The use of a carboxy group as the directing group obviates tedious steps for installation and removal of extra directing groups, and enables a facile one-step synthesis of ortho-carboxy bi(hetero)aryls. The method provides opportunities for rapid assembly of a library of important fluorene and coumarin-type poly-heterocycles through intramolecular electrophilic substitution or oxidative lactonization. As illustrative examples, the strategy developed herein greatly streamlines accesses to a variety of appealing polyheterocycles such as DTPO (5H-dithieno[3,2-b:2',3'-d]pyran-5-one), CPDTO (cyclopentadithiophen-4-one), and indenothiophenes.