Ni/NHC-catalyzed C5-H alkylation and alkenylation of challenging furan(thiophene)-2-carboxaldehydes enabled by recyclable imine protecting group

Transition-metal-catalyzed C-H alkylation of heteroaromatics with alkenes represents an atom-economical and cost-effective strategy for accessing industrially and pharmaceutically relevant compounds. However, the selective C5-H alkylation of biomass-derived furfural and its isosteric analog, thiophene-2-carboxaldehyde, highly challenging yet industrially vital substrates, has remained elusive. Herein, we disclose a Ni/NHC-catalyzed strategy for the C5-H alkylation of furan- and thiophene-2-carboxaldehydes with styrenes and norbornene, enabled by a readily installable and recyclable N-PMP (p-methoxyphenyl) imine protecting group. This method also achieves selective C5-H alkenylation with internal alkynes. Mechanistic studies suggest that C-H alkylation proceeds via a ligand-to-ligand hydrogen transfer (LLHT) pathway. The N-PMP imine group effectively suppresses undesirable benzoin condensation of these reactive aldehydes and prevents NHC trapping in Breslow intermediates, a major catalyst deactivation pathway. The protecting group is efficiently cleaved under acid hydrolysis, yielding C5-functionalized aldehydes, while the liberated anisidine can be recycled for imine substrate preparation. This work also highlights the largely unexplored potential of the N-aryl imine group as the protecting group for distal C(sp²)-H functionalization of heteroaromatic aldehydes under Ni catalysis. A Ni/NHC-catalyzed strategy for C5-H alkylation and alkenylation of furan- and thiophene-2-carboxaldehydes with alkenes and alkynes has been developed, leveraging an easily installable and recyclable N-PMP imine protecting group. This group suppresses unwanted benzoin condensation of the reactive aldehydes and avoids NHC trapping in Breslow intermediates—a key catalyst deactivation pathway.