A photoinduced, Pd-catalyzed alkylative cyclization of o-cyano acrylamides has been developed as a route toward phenanthridines. The reaction involves readily available, unfunctionalized alkyl bromides and chlorides and has also been demonstrated with bromobenzene. The key features of this transformation are the use of a simple catalytic system, activation of a wide variety of bromo- and chloroalkanes, and expeditious reactivity under mild conditions.
Khanna et al. (Wed,) studied this question.