Alkylation of Allylic Derivatives. 11. Copper(I)-Catalyzed Cross Coupling of Allylic Carboxylates with Grignard Reagents

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/jo00365a006

Reactions of allylic carboxylates with Grignard reagents containing catalytic amounts (1-10 mol percent) of cuprous salts give high yields of cross-coupled products.With alkyl Grignard reagents, regiochemistry can be controlled by choice of cuprous salt.With cuprous halides, little regiospecificity is observed.There is a small excess of γ-coupling in unbiased systems such as 5-methyl-2-cyclohexenyl (1), 2-cyclohexenyl (3), and β-phenylallyl (5) carboxylates.With CuCN, complete regiospecificity (exclusive γ-coupling) is observed with all alkyl Grignard reagents in unbiased systems, and with n-butylmagnesium halide >97percent γ-coupling results with α-methyl-γ-phenylallyl pivalate (7-OPiv) which is biased in favour of coupling at the α-position.In sharp contrast to alkyl Grignard reagents, phenyl and vinyl Grignard reagents containing CuCN show no regiospecificity.