Mild Decarboxylative Activation of Malonic Acid Derivatives by 1,1′-Carbonyldiimidazole

Abstract

Malonic acid derivatives undergo unusually mild decarboxylation when treated with N,N'-carbonyldiimidazole (CDI) at room temperature to generate the carbonyl imidazole moiety in high yield, which can be reacted further with a variety of nucleophiles in an efficient one-pot process.