Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling reaction of 1,2-oxaborol-2(5H)-ols with carboxylic anhydrides: a new method to furans

An efficient one-step method has been developed to construct furans via a Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling reaction of 1,2-oxaborol-2(5H)-ols with carboxylic anhydrides. In the presence of Pd(OAc)2/PCy3, the multi-substituted alkenylboron compounds could couple with anhydrides to obtain furans in moderate-to-good yields. The addition of bases promoted the coupling reaction, and the plausible reaction mechanism was proposed.