Visible light photoredox-catalyzed arylative cyclization to access benzimidazo[2,1-a]isoquinolin-6(5H)-ones

A photoredox-catalyzed arylative radical cascade involving N-acryloyl-2-arylbenzoimidazoles and diaryliodonium triflates leading to the formation of a broad array of pharmaceutically important arylated-benzimidazo[2,1-a]isoquinolin-6(5H)-ones is described. Importantly, the synthesized benzimidazoisoquinolinones are amenable for further synthetic manipulation and allowed efficient access to benzimidazo-fused polycyclic heterocycles.