A facile approach to the synthesis of chiral 2-substituted benzofurans.

An effective route to chiral optically active 2-substituted benzofurans directly from carboxylic acids is reported. This procedure, which allows the preparation of alpha-alkyl-2-benzofuranmethanamines from N-protected alpha-amino acids without sensible racemization phenomena, proceeds in good yields under mild conditions with the help of microwave irradiation.