Palladium catalyzed allylic C-H alkylation: a mechanistic perspective

The atom-efficiency of one of the most widely used catalytic reactions for forging C-C bonds, the Tsuji-Trost reaction, is limited by the need of preoxidized reagents. This limitation can be overcome by utilization of the recently discovered palladium-catalyzed C-H activation, the allylic C-H alkylation reaction which is the topic of the current review. Particular emphasis is put on current mechanistic proposals for the three reaction types comprising the overall transformation: C-H activation, nucleophilic addition, and re-oxidation of the active catalyst. Recent advances in C-H bond activation are highlighted with emphasis on those leading to C-C bond formation, but where it was deemed necessary for the general understanding of the process closely related C-H oxidations and aminations are also included. It is found that C-H cleavage is most likely achieved by ligand participation which could involve an acetate ion coordinated to Pd. Several of the reported systems rely on benzoquinone for re-oxidation of the active catalyst. The scope for nucleophilic addition in allylic C-H alkylation is currently limited, due to demands on pK(a) of the nucleophile. This limitation could be due to the pH dependence of the benzoquinone/hydroquinone redox couple. Alternative methods for re-oxidation that does not rely on benzoquinone could be able to alleviate this limitation.     

Enantioselective construction of all-carbon quaternary centers by branch-selective Pd-catalyzed allyl-allyl cross-coupling

The Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling of racemic tertiary allylic carbonates and allylboronates is described. This reaction generates all-carbon quaternary centers in a highly regioselective and enantioselective fashion. The outcome of these reactions is consistent with a process that proceeds by way of 3,3'-reductive elimination of bis(η(1)-allyl)palladium intermediates. Strategies for distinguishing the product alkenes and application to the synthesis of (+)-α-cuparenone are also described.     

Catalytic intermolecular allylic C-H alkylation

The first electrophilic Pd(II)-catalyzed allylic C H alkylation is reported, providing a novel method for formation of sp3-sp3 C C bonds directly from C H bonds. A wide range of aromatic and heteroaromatic linear (E)-alpha-nitro-arylpentenoates are obtained as single olefin isomers in excellent yields directly from terminal olefin substrates and methyl nitroacetate. The use of DMSO as a pi-acidic ligand was found to be crucial for promoting functionalization of the pi-allylPd intermediate. Products from this reaction are valuable synthetic intermediates and are readily transformed to amino esters via selective reduction and optically enriched alpha,alpha-disubstituted amino acid precursors via asymmetric conjugate addition.     

Ruthenium complex-catalyzed allylic alkylation of carbonucleophiles with allylic carbonates

Allylic carbonates except for allyl methyl carbonate reacted with carbonucleophiles such as ethyl acetoacetate in the presence of a catalytic amount of Ru(cod)(cot) [cod = cycloocta-1,5-diene, COT = cycloocta-1,3,5-triene] in N-methylpiperidine at 80°C to give the corresponding monoallylated carbonucleophiles in high yields with high regioselectivity. The regioselectivity was quite different from that in the palladium-catalyzed reactions. The allylation of carbonucleophiles using allyl methyl carbonate selectively gave the diallylated carbonucleophiles in high yields.     

Pd-catalyzed allylic alkylation of thioamides

This work describes the first Pd-catalyzed allylic alkylation of thioamides. Various thioamides were efficiently α-allylated in high yields and with excellent selectivity for monoallylation under mild reaction conditions. The process not only provides a facile method for the synthesis of functionalized thioamides, but also presents a useful transformation for synthetically important thioamides.     

Diastereocontrol in asymmetric allyl-allyl cross-coupling: stereocontrolled reaction of prochiral allylboronates with prochiral allyl chlorides

Palladium-catalyzed allyl-allyl cross-coupling was investigated with substituted prochiral allylic boronates. These reactions deliver products bearing adjacent stereocenters, and the issue of diastereocontrol is therefore paramount. Under appropriately modified conditions, this allyl-allyl coupling strategy was found to apply to a range of substrates, generally occurring with high enantioselectivity (92:8 to >99:1 er) and good diastereoselection (4:1 to 14:1 dr).     

Deacylative allylation: allylic alkylation via retro-Claisen activation

A new method for allylic alkylation of a variety of relatively nonstabilized carbon nucleophiles is described herein. In this process of "deacylative allylation", the coupling partners, an allylic alcohol and a ketone pronucleophile, undergo in situ retro-Claisen activation to generate an allylic acetate and a carbanion. In the presence of palladium, these reactive intermediates undergo catalytic coupling to form a new C-C bond. In comparison to unimolecular decarboxylative allylation, a commonly utilized method for allylation of carbon anions, deacylative allylation is an intermolecular process. Moreover, deacylative allylation allows the direct coupling of readily available allylic alcohols. Lastly, the full utility of deacylative allylation is demonstrated by the rapid construction of a variety 1,6-heptadienes via 3-component couplings.     

N-tosylhydrazones: versatile reagents for metal-catalyzed and metal-free cross-coupling reactions

Transition metal-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions have been established as one of the most powerful tools for the construction of C-C and C-X bonds. In this context, the development of novel metal-catalyzed cross-coupling processes that do not require stoichiometric organometallic reagents is particularly attractive. Recently, N-tosylhydrazones have emerged as a new type of versatile coupling partners for transition metal-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions as well as metal-free cross-coupling reactions, and have attracted increasing attention. This tutorial review summarizes recent important developments in this area with N-tosylhydrazones as versatile coupling partners.     

Asymmetric allylic alkylation of acyclic allylic ethers with organolithium reagents

A highly efficient, regio- and enantioselective Cu(I) /phosphoramidite-catalyzed asymmetric allylic alkylation of allyl ethers with organolithium reagents is reported. The use of organolithium reagents is essential for this catalytic C?C bond formation due to their compatibility with different Lewis acids. The versatility of allylic ethers under the copper-catalyzed reaction conditions with organolithium reagents is demonstrated in the shortest synthesis of (S)-Arundic acid.     

Pd-Catalyzed allylic alkylation of secondary nitroalkanes

A Pd-catalyzed allylic alkylation of secondary nitroalkanes, using a catalytic amount of external base, was developed. Simple allyl carbonate and monosubstituted allyl carbonates were used as electrophiles, and bulky secondary nitroalkanes were used as nucleophiles. This is the first catalytic allylic alkylation of bulky secondary nitroalkanes, such as 2-nitroheptane. The use of the strong base DBU in the aprotic polar solvent DMSO is a key in realizing the high reactivity. In an attempt to develop an asymmetric reaction, 2-aryloxazoline ligand PHOX L1 gave excellent results for inducing chirality at the π-allyl moiety. As for asymmetric induction at the α-position of the NO₂ functionality, the free OH-group containing 2-aryloxazoline ligand L4 showed moderate selectivity.     

Transition metal-free cross-coupling of furan ring with haloacetylenes

On the example of menthofuran, a naturally abundant compound, it has been shown for the first time that the furan ring can be readily cross-coupled with acylhaloacetylenes in the solid Al₂O₃ powder at room temperature to afford the corresponding 2-ethynyl derivatives in up to 88% yield. The reaction represents a ring closing/ring opening process that includes reversible formation of the intermediate cycloadducts further producing acetylene derivatives with elimination of HHal.     

Palladium asymmetric allylic alkylation of prochiral nucleophiles: horsfiline

[reaction; see text] The asymmetric synthesis of the oxindole alkaloid horsfiline is described. A palladium-catalyzed asymmetric allylic alkylation (AAA) is used to set the spiro(pyrrolidine-oxindole) stereogenic center.     

Copper-free asymmetric allylic alkylation using grignard reagents on bifunctional allylic bromides

A series of substrates containing a vinylic bromide were employed in a copper-free methodology using bidendate NHC ligands. The desired compounds are generally obtained with good enantioselectivity and good regioselectivity. Importantly the copper-catalyzed system afforded a lower enantioselectivity value. The catalytic products could be transformed into a broad scope of new 1,1-disubstituted olefins in a single step transformation without erosion of the enantioselectivity.     

Gold-catalysed allylic alkylation of aromatic and heteroaromatic compounds with allylic alcohols

Friedel-Crafts allylic alkylation of a wide variety of aromatic and heteroaromatic compounds with allylic alcohols catalysed by AuCl(3) (5 mol%) under mild conditions at room temperature was accomplished in good to excellent yields (up to 99%) and regioselectivity.     

Asymmetric allylic alkylation, an enabling methodology

The diversity of mechanisms for enantiodiscrimination and of bond types that can be formed make Pd-catalyzed asymmetric allylic alkylation a powerful key step for simplification of synthetic strategy to complex molecular targets. Using a wide range of different classes of compounds including alkaloids, polyhydrofurans, nucleosides and carbanucleosides, cyclohexitols and cyclopentitols, chromanes, cyclopentanoids, amino acids, barbiturates, etc., novel synthetic strategies emerge that provide short efficient asymmetric syntheses.     

Enantioselective allylic alkylation using polymer-supported palladium catalysts

Chiral 2′-(4″,5″-dihydro-2″-oxazolyl)-6′-(1-hydroxyalkyl)pyridines were grafted via ester-linkages directly to cross-linked polystyrene and to polyethyleneglycol-containing resins TentaGel and ArgoGel functionalized with carboxylic acid groups or via spacers containing a carboxylic acid group. The polymeric ligands were used in the palladium-catalyzed substitution of rac-1,3-diphenyl-2-propenyl acetate with dimethyl malonate. The enantioselectivities (up to 80% ee) were similar to those observed employing an analogous monomeric catalyst.