Photoinduced H-Bonding EDA complex-enabled skeletal editing of furans to pyridazines.

Tang, Juan; Gan, Pingyao; Li, Wenjing; Peng, Lin; Yang, Guiyu; He, Yuying; Zhou, Shikun; Long, Ting et al. · Nat Commun · 2026

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Skeletal editing enables direct structural reorganization of molecular frameworks, providing a powerful strategy for rapid exploration of chemical space in lead optimization. Herein we report a mild, photoinduced skeletal editing strategy that converts furans into pharmacologically valuable pyridazines without external photocatalysts. Upon photoexcitation, the H-bonding electron donor-acceptor (EDA) complex formed between furan and hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP) enables activation of molecular oxygen, generating reactive oxygen species that promote oxidative ring opening of furan to a 1,4-dicarbonyl intermediate, which subsequently condenses with hydrazine hydrate to afford pyridazines. The method displays broad substrate scope, tolerates complex and drug-derived motifs, and can be implemented to continuous-flow processing with enhanced efficiency and scalability.