Rhodium‐Catalyzed [3 + 2]‐Annulation of ortho‐Diazoquinones with Enol Ethers: Diversity−Oriented Total Synthesis of Aflatoxin B2

A simple and efficient approach for synthesizing substituted and fused polycyclic 2,3-dihydrobenzofurans has been developed through a Rh-catalyzed [3+2]-annulation of ortho-diazoquinones with enol ethers. This methodology has a broad substrate scope and has been employed for the concise total synthesis of natural product aflatoxin B2.