Sterically Controlled C−H Olefination of Heteroarenes

The regioselective functionalization of heteroarenes is a highly attractive synthetic target due to the prevalence of multiply substituted heteroarenes in nature and bioactive compounds. Some substitution patterns remain challenging: While highly efficient methods for the C2‐selective olefination of 3‐substituted five‐membered heteroarenes have been reported, analogous methods to access the 5‐olefinated products have remained limited by poor regioselectivities and/or the requirement to use an excess of the valuable heteroarene starting material. Herein we report a sterically controlled C−H olefination using heteroarenes as the limiting reagent. The method enables the highly C5‐selective olefination of a wide range of heteroarenes and is shown to be useful in the context of late‐stage functionalization.