Hydrosilylation of 3-methyleneisoindolin-1-ones

Isoindolin-1-one units exist in numerous natural products and biologically active substances. In addition, 3-substituted isoindolin-1-ones are significant for the synthesis of natural products and development of new drugs. Therefore, the synthesis of isoindolin-1-ones has attracted extensive attention of chemists and pharmacologist. In order to solve the problems in many current procedures for the synthesis of isoindolin-1-ones such as harsh conditions and difficulties in preparation of substrates, in this paper, hydrosilylation of 3-methyleneisoindolin-1-ones has been achieved by using a readily available picolinamide-sulphonate Lewis base as catalyst. The reaction provided a wide variety of 3-substituted isoindolin-1-ones in moderate to good yields (63%-99%). Thus, a facile, economic and environmental approach has been established for the preparation of 3-methyleneisoindolin-1-ones.