Pyridylalkylamine ligands and their palladium complexes: structure and reactivity revisited by NMR

Pyridylmethylamines or pma are versatile platforms for different catalytic transformations. Five pma‐ligands and their respective Pd complexes have been studied by liquid state NMR. By comparing ¹H, ¹³C and ¹⁵N chemical shifts for each pma/pma–Pd couple, a general trend for the metallacycle atoms concerns variations of the electronic distribution at the pendant arm, especially at the nitrogen atom of the ligand. Moreover, the increase of the chemical shift of the pendant arm nitrogen atom from primary to tertiary amine is also related to the increase of crowding within the complex. This statement is in good agreement with X‐ray data collected for several complexes. Catalytic results for the Suzuki–Miyaura reaction involving the pma–Pd complexes showed within this series that a sterically crowded and electron‐rich ligand in the metallacycle was essential to reach the coupling product with a good selectivity. In this context, NMR study of chemical shifts of all active nuclei especially in the metallacycle could give a trend of reactivity in the studied family of pma–Pd complexes. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.