A simple and efficient mechanochemical-induced approach for the synthesis of 1,2-diketoindolizine derivatives has been developed. BaTiO3 was used as the piezoelectric material in this transformation. This method features no usage of solvent, simple experimental operation, scalable potential, and high conversion efficiency, which make it attractive and practical.

Under mechanochemically induced conditions, a wide range of diarylphosphine oxides or H-phosphonates react with trisulfide dioxides to afford various thiophosphate derivatives in good yields. Selective S−S bond cleavage of trisulfide dioxides determined by connecting groups is proposed as the key step in the construction of P(O)−S or P(O)−S−S bonds, which is supported by calculations.

A wide range of indolizines with allenes proceeded smoothly under mechanochemically induced conditions via a [3+2] annulation process, affording various substituted pyrrolo­[2,1,5-cd]­indolizines in good yields. The reaction efficiency was greatly improved by using piezoelectric material as the charge transfer catalyst. The photophysical properties of the resulting pyrrolo­[2,1,5-cd]­indolizine were characterized.