A novel palladium-mediated coupling approach to 2,3-disubstituted benzo[b]thiophenes and its application to the synthesis of tubulin binding agents

[GRAPHICS] Flexible, convergent access to 2,3-disubstituted benzo[b]thiophenes has bee n developed. The most concise approach involves sequential coupling of o-br omoiodobenzenes with benzylmercaptan and zinc acetylides to give benzyl o-e thynylphenyl sulfides which react with iodine to give 3-iodobenzo[b]thiophe nes in a 5-endo-dig iodocyclization. These iodides can be further elaborate d using palladium-mediated coupling and/or metalation techniques. This meth od has been applied to the synthesis of some novel tubulin binding agents.