Deacylative arylation and alkynylation of unstrained ketones

Ketones are ubiquitous in bioactive natural products, pharmaceuticals, chemical feedstocks, and synthetic intermediates. Hence, deacylative coupling reactions enable the versatile elaboration of a plethora of chemicals to access complex drug candidates and natural products. Here, we present deacylative arylation and alkynylation strategies for the synthesis of a wide range of alkyl-tethered arenes and alkynes from cyclic ketones and methyl ketones under dual nickel/photoredox catalysis. This reaction begins by generating a pre-aromatic intermediate (PAI) through the condensation of the ketone and