The radical acylarylation of N-arylacrylamides with aliphatic aldehydes using the photolysis of hypervalent iodine(iii) reagents.

This article describes a variety of 3,3-disubstituted 2-oxindoles that bear carbonyl groups, which are efficiently obtained from a radical reaction between N-arylacrylamides and aliphatic aldehydes. The reaction is initiated by the photolysis of hypervalent iodine(iii) reagents and proceeds smoothly under mild, metal-free conditions.