Palladium-mediated cyclopentanation of alkenes bearing a nucleophilic substituent. Stereochemistry and mechanism

Article abstract of DOI:10.1016/S0040-4039(00)74293-6

The increased facility of the reaction 11→2. 2 simultaneously with the increased nucleophilicity of the malonate, as well as the stereospecificity observed in the case of 3, led to the conclusion that the cyclisation proceeds by a nucleophilic attack on the double bond activated by a palladium(II) species.