A stereoselective synthesis of fully substituted tetrahydrofurans through 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition with cinnamaldehydes: an easy access to chroman derivatives

An efficient method of synthesizing the fully-substituted tetrahydrofuran through intermolecular dipolar cycloaddition reactions of aryl diazoesters, β-nitrostyrenes and cinnamaldehydes was developed. A novel cascade 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition/Michael addition reaction provides a rapid and step-economic construction of highly substituted polycyclic chroman frameworks.