Ligand‐Free Nickel‐Catalyzed Dearomative Spirocyclization of Naphthols with Alkynes to Access Spirocyclic Enones
Xueyu Liu, Jinxing Long, Zhihui Hu, Zhi‐Juan He, Yuanhong MaABSTRACT
The catalytic dearomatization of naphthols with alkynes provides a straightforward route to valuable spirocyclic enones that are widely found in natural products and pharmaceuticals. However, established methods predominantly rely on noble metal catalysis (e.g., Pd, Au) and sophisticated ligands. From the viewpoint of practical application, the development of alternative methods to achieve this transformation by earth‐abundant metal catalysis is of great significance. Herein, we report a ligand‐free nickel‐catalyzed system for the dearomative spirocyclization of naphthols with alkynes. This protocol offers a cost‐effective and operationally simple route for the synthesis of spirocyclic enones, featuring good functional group tolerance and gram‐scale applicability.