Mg-promoted facile and selective intramolecular cyclization of aromatic δ-ketoesters

Treatment of various types of aromatic δ-ketoesters 2, 7, and 9 with Mg-turnings for Grignard reaction at −5 to 0 °C in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) containing trimethylsilyl chloride (TMSCl) brought about selective and reductive intramolecular cyclization to give the corresponding α-aryl-α-hydroxycyclopentanones 5, 8, and 10, respectively, in moderate to good yields. Similar reductive intramolecular cyclization of aromatic δ-ketodiesters 14, followed by acidic hydrolysis and decarboxylation easily gave the corresponding 2-aryl-2-cyclopenten-1-ones 15. The present facile coupling may be initiated through electron transfer from Mg metal to the aromatic carbonyl groups of 2, 7, 9, and 14 to generate the corresponding radical anions, followed by their intramolecular nucleophilic attack to the ester groups to give the corresponding five-membered ring compounds 5, 8, 10, and 15, respectively.