A novel electrochemical method for synthesizing phosphorylated pyrido-4,3,2-gh-phenanthridine derivatives has been developed via a cascade phosphorylation/cyclization reaction. This approach employs a Cp2Fe-assisted electrochemical cycle to induce phosphonyl radical addition/cyanide insertion/intramolecular cyclization, achieving target products in yields of up to 91%. The reaction features mild conditions and a broad functional group tolerance. Notably, preliminary pharmacological screening indicates that some synthesized compounds show promising inhibitory effects against selected cancer cell lines in vitro.
Ran et al. (Tue,) studied this question.