A convenient approach to cyclic enol phosphates via ring-closing metathesis

A strategy employing the second generation Grubbs catalyst in order to facilitate the generation of a variety of cyclic enol phosphates, including 2H-chromen-4-yl, 1,2-dihydroquinolin-4-yl, 2H-thiochromen-4-yl, 2H-thiochromen-4-yl 1,1-dioxide, and benzofuran-2-yl enol phosphate scaffolds is described. This work represents the first case of an olefin metathesis reaction in which one of the groups participating in the metathesis event is an enol phosphate moiety.