Highly regioselective intermolecular hydroacylations of enamides with salicylaldehydes

Highly regioselective intermolecular hydroacylations of enamides under rhodium catalysis with monodentate phosphane ligands are reported for the first time. The presence of MeCN facilitates this novel C-C bond formation, and the electron-deficient phosphine P(p-F-Ph)(3) has proven most effective for the direct hydroacylation of 1-vinyl-2-pyrrolidinone. Accordingly, an atom-economic synthetic route to α-amido ketones from readily available substrates has been developed.