Novel syntheses of fluorenones via nitrile-directed palladium-catalyzed C-H and dual C-H bond activation.

Novel procedures for the [Pd]/[Ag]/TFA system catalyzed cascade reactions of nitrile directed remote C-H and dual C-H bond activation with insertion of nitrile were developed, which afforded variously polysubstituted fluorenones in moderate to good yields with tolerance of a wide variety of substrates.