Chemistry

Botany

Catalysis

Organic chemistry

Amination

Biology

Combinatorial chemistry

Medicinal chemistry

Deciduous

Group (periodic table)

Annulation

Organic Letters

A method for the synthesis of diverse polysubstituted quinolines from readily available acrylic acids and anthranils has been developed. The weakly coordinating –COOH directing group, which can be tracelessly removed in the cascade cyclization, is essential for this reaction. Diverse polysubstituted quinolines were obtained under mild reaction conditions with simple H2O and CO2 as byproducts. More importantly, 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroacridine, which is the core skeleton of tacrine (an Alzheimer's disease drug), was conveniently synthesized.

Rh-Catalyzed C–H Amination/Annulation of Acrylic Acids and Anthranils by Using −COOH as a Deciduous Directing Group: An Access to Diverse Quinolines