Palladium-Catalyzed Carbonylative Cyclization of Azoarenes

In this communication, we established an interesting palladium-catalyzed carbonylation protocol for the intramolecular cyclization of azoarenes. With Mo(CO)6 as the solid CO source and through C(sp2)−H bond activation, a series of azoarenes were transformed into the corresponding 2-arylindazolones in moderate to good yields. Notably, not only symmetrical azoarenes, but also unsymmetrical substrates underwent the reaction with excellent regioselectivity.