Ketone Synthesis by Direct,Orthogonal Chemoselective Hydroacylation of Alkenes with Amides: Use of Alkenes as Surrogates of Alkyl Carbanions

Direct functionalization of alkenes and direct transformation of carboxamides are two exciting areas that have attracted considerable attention in recent years. We report herein that secondary amides, the least reactive derivatives of carbonyl compounds, upon activated with triflic anhydride, can serve as effective hydroacylating reagents in partner with alkenes to yield ketones at ambient temperature. The method was applied to the one‐step synthesis of racemic dihydro‐ar‐turmerone. In this method, alkenes serve as surrogates of organometallic reagents, which allows the orthogonal chemoselective reactions. The ready availability of many olefins such as camphene and norbornene permits one‐step ketone synthesis that would require several steps by conventional methods.