Building addressable libraries: the use of electrochemistry for spatially isolating a heck reaction on a chip

Pd(0) was generated at preselected sites on an electrochemically addressable chip and then utilized to effect a Heck reaction. The Pd(0) was confined to the preselected electrodes with the use of allylmethyl carbonate. Unlike most mediated electrochemical reactions, the electrolysis in this case was not used to convert a stoichiometric process into a catalytic one by recycling the metal. Instead, the unique environment of the chip was used to interfere with a catalytic process to make it stoichiometric. This was done to gain spatial control over the reaction. The development of a strategy for conducting Pd(0)-catalyzed reactions on the chips should greatly expand the synthetic chemistry available for building chip-based libraries.