Rhodium-catalyzed tunable oxidative cyclization toward the selective synthesis of α-pyrones and furans

The rhodium(III)-catalyzed tunable oxidative cyclization of readily available N-tosylacrylamides and diazo compounds is presented, which offers a novel method for the selective construction of fully substituted a-pyrones and furans in a regiospecific manner by employing the acylsulfonamide group as a versatile in situ removable directing group.