Transition-metal-catalyzed directly inter molecular cyclization
via C–H bond activation has been established as a straightforward method to construct heterocycles [
4]. Among which, the rhodium complex as a catalyst with excellent activity plays a vital role in organic synthesis [
5]. As the same time, the azobenzene derivatives are the most classical and conventional compounds in C-H activation/annulation under metal catalysts. Since 2013, the C-H functionalization of azobenzenes as a directing group for constructing various bioactive molecules have been reported using Pd, Co, Rh or Re as catalysis [
6]. In these reactions, sp
2- or sp-carbons, such as aldehydes, alkynes, alkenes, sulfoxonium ylides and diazo compounds, were usually used as the key synthons for the C-H bond activation/cyclization process. However, sp
3-carbon synthons have been rarely reported. To solve this limitation, Glorius's group [
7] reported a pioneering example of rhodium(Ⅲ)-catalyzed [4+2] cyclization to synthesize C3-monosubstituted
N-heterocycle based on C(sp
3) electrophiles of
α-Cl/MsO/TsO substituted ketones, complementing the previously reported mode of
π-bond reaction. Subsequently, Li and co-workers [
8] disclosed the synthesis of C-H/N-H functionalized isoquinolines catalyzed by rhodium(Ⅲ) starting from
α-Cl/MsO/TsO ketones. In these procedures,
α-halos or pseudohalogens are usually used as C2 synthons to construct these useful frameworks [
7-
9]. Very recently, Liu and colleagues [
10] pioneered the coupling of rhodium(Ⅲ)-catalyzed aromatic C(sp
2)-H with
α-Cl ketones as a C1 synthon [
11] for the synthesis of 3-acylindoles. To build versatile heterocycles as well as with our continuing interest in the clean transition-metal-catalyzed C-H bond functionalization [
12], we embark on rhodium(Ⅲ) catalyzed [4+1] cyclization of azo compounds with
α-Cl ketones for the synthesis of 3-acyl-2
H-indazoles. Cheap and easily available azobenzenes and
α-Cl ketones allow the reaction to proceed smoothly under the mild reaction conditions with excellent yields and large functional groups tolerance. Additional, the azo group not only participates as a directing group but also as key component in the core skeleton.