Formation of benzofuran and 2H-chromene structures in one reaction. A novel synthesis of 2H-chromene derivatives

Heating the morpholinal of nitrosalicylic aldehyde with methyl propiolate in acetonitrile in the presence of CuI affords an equimolar mixture of 2-methoxycarbonylmethyl-3-morpholino-5-nitrobenzofuran and 3-methoxycarbonyl-2-morpholino-6-nitro-2H-chromene, the structures of which were determined by X-ray analysis. Only the 2H-chromene mentioned above was obtained in the absence of CuI and solvent.