Palladium-catalyzed domino carbonylative cyclization to access functionalized heterocycles.

[Display omitted] • A novel palladium-catalyzed domino carbonylative cyclization. • Carbonylative cyclization of alkene-tethered indole derivatives with alkyne-tethered nucleophiles. • Several pharmaceutical and bioactive molecule related compounds were also suitable substrates here. A novel palladium-catalyzed domino carbonylative cyclization of alkene-tethered indole derivatives with alkyne-tethered nucleophiles has been developed, which provides a straightforward and efficient platform for the rapid construction of functionalized heterocycles. By using benzene-1,3,5-triyl triformate (TFBen) as the CO source, this domino reaction proceeded smoothly with the consecutive formation of three C C bonds and one C-X bond to furnish a variety of biologically relevant indolo[2,1- a ]isoquinoline-indole and indolo[2,1- a ]isoquinoline-dihydrobenzofuran derivatives in good yields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]