Angewandte
Chemie
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201204716
Carbohalogenation
A Conjunctive Carboiodination: Indenes by a Double
Carbopalladation–Reductive Elimination Domino Process**
Xiaodong Jia, David A. Petrone, and Mark Lautens*
2
We recently developed a novel Pd0-catalyzed carbon–halogen
bond forming reaction based on reversible oxidative addition.
This reaction was highlighted in various intra- and intermo-
lecular processes.[1] These formal carboiodinations were
facilitated by the carbon–iodine reductive elimination pro-
ceeding through alkene carbopalladation (Scheme 1). Tong
hybridized C Br bonds, the analogous sp -hybridized C I
bond formation was unsuccessful.
À
À
This prompted us to design a 2-iodo-a-methyl styrene
substrate, which in the presence of an alkyne, would allow us
to test the feasibility of an intermolecular–intramolecular
domino reaction (Scheme 1, path b).[3,4] If compatible, we
could still harness the reactivity of the vinyl PdII intermediate
as means to access a new class of carboiodination products.
Herein, we report the development of a palladium-
catalyzed domino intermolecular alkyne insertion/intramo-
À
lecular alkene insertion terminated by a C I reductive
elimination. This methodology allows access to racemic
polysubstituted indenes through the formation of two new
carbon–carbon bonds and one new carbon–iodine bond.
We initially chose 1a and 2a to optimize the reaction
conditions, and to test the effect of using different ligands
(Scheme 2). At 1008C in toluene, the carboiodinated indene
product 3a could be isolated in 96% yield when 5 mol%
[Pd(Q-Phos)2] was used. Only 8% of 3a was obtained when
P(o-tol)3 was used as the ligand, and PCy3 gave no detectable
product.
Scheme 1. Intramolecular and intermolecular carboiodination.
et al. also described interesting variants of this concept
towards the synthesis of substituted bicyclic[2a] and hetero-
cyclic[2b] frameworks. Our observed reactivity is strictly
dependent on a bulky P-ligand, such as Q-Phos being present
during catalysis. Since all previous reports highlight the
formation of sp3 carbon–iodine bonds, we hoped to extend the
scope of this transformation to the synthesis of vinyl iodides
using this ligand class. We attempted an intermolecular
carboiodination reaction between an aryl iodide and an
internal alkyne, but failed to isolate any of the desired product
(Scheme 1, path a). Despite previous accounts of this ligandꢀs
unique ability to induce reductive elimination to form sp2-
Scheme 2. Optimization of the reaction conditions.
The optimized reaction conditions were then applied to
various alkynes to explore the scope of this transformation
(Table 1). Symmetrical diaryl alkynes gave excellent yields of
the desired indenes (entries 1–8). When dialkyl alkynes were
used, the yields were generally lower, which may be a result of
the presence of b-hydrogens in the vinyl PdII intermediate
(entries 9 and 10). We also attempted the reactions of 1a and
various terminal alkynes, but no reaction was observed, and
the starting materials remained unchanged. Dibromo alkyne
2g gave only 32% yield, which could be increased to 57% by
the addition of 1 equivalent of Et3N (entry 7). The effect of
added amine base remains unclear, but may be related to the
regeneration of the active Pd0 species.[6] No reaction occurred
[*] Dr. X.-D. Jia, D. A. Petrone, Prof. Dr. M. Lautens
Davenport Laboratories, Department of Chemistry
University of Toronto
80 St. George Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 3H6 (Canada)
E-mail: mlautens@chem.utoronto.ca
[**] This research was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engi-
neering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Merck Frosst
Centre for Therapeutic Research, and the University of Toronto. X.J.
thanks Northwest Normal University (China) for research support
at the University of Toronto. We thank Dr. Alan Lough (University of
Toronto) for the X-ray structure of 5. We thank Johnson Matthey for
the donation of palladium catalysts.
Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 1 – 4
ꢀ 2012 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
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