Intramolecular cyclisation of functionalised heteroaryllithiums. Synthesis of novel indolizinone-based compounds

The intramolecular cyclisation of heteroaryllithiums derived from N-heteroarylmethylpyrrole-2-carboxamides takes place smoothly at low temperature when N-methoxy-N-methyl and morpholine amides are used as internal electrophiles. Halogen-lithium exchange using n-BuLi is the method of choice to achieve metalation on the quinoline and pyridine derivatives, while directed lithiation (LDA) works better for furan. In the case of thiophene both methodologies can be applied. These metalation-cyclisation sequences provide a useful entry to several types of indolizidine based compounds (pyrrolo[1,2-b]acridinones, pyrrolo[1,2-g]quinolones, thieno and furo[3,2-f]indolizinones).