A palladium-catalyzed alkylation/direct arylation synthesis of nitrogen-containing heterocycles.

A norbornene-mediated palladium-catalyzed sequence is described in which an alkyl-aryl bond and an aryl-heteroaryl bond are formed in one reaction vessel. The aryl-heteroaryl bond-forming step occurs via a direct arylation reaction. A number of six-, seven-, and eight-membered ring-annulated indoles, pyrroles, pyrazoles, and azaindoles were synthesized from the corresponding bromoalkyl azole and an aryl iodide.