Visible Light‐Driven Iron‐Catalyzed Decarboxylative Cyclization Reaction for Synthesis of 3‐Amino‐2,3‐Dihydrobenzofuran Derivatives from 2‐Carboxymethoxybenzaldehydes and Aryl Amines

A novel visible‐light‐driven iron‐catalyzed decarboxylative cyclization reaction of 2‐carboxymethoxybenzaldehyde and aryl amines under mild conditions is developed. This highly efficient transformation enables the quick construction of various substituted 3‐amino‐2,3‐dihydrobenzofuran derivatives in one‐pot operation with good to excellent yields as well as broad functional group tolerance and will provide versatile short approaches to motifs and/or analogues of numerous medicinally interesting 3‐amino‐2,3‐dihydrobenzofuran natural products. Preliminary mechanistic investigations show that iron catalyst can readily realize decarboxylation of alkyl carboxylic acids to alkyl radicals through a visible‐light‐driven protocol, thus leading to one‐pot decarboxylation and cyclization cascade reactions.