Communication
Table 1. Pd-catalyzed carbocyclization–carbonylation.
Entry
Pd catalyst
Pd(OAc)2
mol%
Yield
[%][a]
1
2
5
5
48
59
3
4
[Pd(TFA)2], [Pd(acac)2], PdCl2, [Pd(DMSO)2Cl2]
Pd(OAc)2
5
1
<10
63
[a] The yield was measured by 1H NMR using mesitylene as an internal
standard.
catalysts screened, only Pd(OAc)2 and 1,2-bis(phenylsulfinyl)-
ethanepalladium(II) diacetate (11) gave reasonable yields of
the ester [D4]-10aa. When [Pd(TFA)2] (TFA=trifluoroacetate)
was used in place of Pd(OAc)2, lower yields of the product
were observed. Other palladium salts such as PdCl2, [Pd(acac)2]
or [Pd(DMSO)2Cl2] gave no reaction (Table 1 entry 3). Interest-
ingly, lowering the catalyst loading to 1 mol% increased the
yield of [D4]-10aa to 63% (Table 1 entry 4).
Scheme 2. Effect of additives in the Pd-catalyzed carbocyclization–carbonyla-
tion.
After several unsuccessful attempts to increase the yield by
screening different parameters, such as temperature, catalyst
loading, oxidant, and concentration, we assumed that the de-
composition of PdII to Pd0 under the reducing CO atmosphere
might be the main reason for the low yields (see Supporting
Information). To circumvent this problem, we studied the
effect of various stabilizing ligands in the carbonylation reac-
tion. As can be seen from Scheme 2, addition of 10 mol% of
DMSO (L1) has a beneficial effect on the reaction and under
these conditions the yield increased to 78% (74% isolated
yield). Other sulfoxide (L2–L4) and sulfone ligands (L5–L7)
were also screened, but in all these cases, lower yields were
obtained. We investigated the effect of the amount of DMSO
on the reaction and it was found that the DMSO concentration
plays a crucial role for the carbonylation reaction. While cata-
lytic amounts of DMSO (10–20 mol%) were found to be profit-
able, increasing the amount of DMSO further led to a lower
yield. For example, a 1:1 mixture of CD3OD and DMSO
(50 equiv) gave only 32% of [D4]-10aa along with 60% of un-
reacted 9a after 12 h of reaction (see Supporting Information).
The optimized conditions established for the formation of
a,b-unsaturated ester 10aa were applied to differently substi-
tuted allenynes (Table 2). When both methyl groups of the
allene unit were replaced by a pentamethylene group (9b),
the reaction with CO in MeOH gave the a,b-unsaturated ester
10ba in a 56% yield, but the catalyst loading had to be in-
creased to 5 mol% (Table 2, entry 2). Unsymmetrical allene 9c
also showed a similar reactivity and gave a mixture of isomers
10ca and 10ca’ in a 3:1 ratio (Table 2, entry 3).
matic substituted allenynes 9d–9 f required a slightly elevated
temperature (558C) for the carbonylation reaction to occur
and afforded the corresponding products 10da–10 fa in good
yields (Table 2, entries 4–6). We then turned our attention to
the use of enallenes 12a–12c in the domino carbocyclization–
carbonylation reaction. In contrast to the allenyne substrates,
enallenes have a propensity for b-elimination after the carbo-
cyclization because of the presence of b-hydrogen atom(s).
However, we were pleased to find that under the optimized re-
action conditions enallenes, 12a and 12b selectively gave the
corresponding esters 13aa and 13ba in 85 and 63% yields, re-
spectively, without giving the b-elimination product (Table 2,
entries 7 and 8). Enallene 12c gave the ester 13ca in 71%
yield (Table 2, entry 9).
The scope of the alcohol partners in the carbocyclization–
carbonylation reaction was then explored using allenyne 9a or
enallene 12a (Table 3). In addition to MeOH, other aliphatic al-
cohols reacted smoothly to provide the desired a,b-unsaturat-
ed esters in good yields. It should be noted that the reaction
could be carried out in dichloroethane as solvent using five
equivalents of the alcohol to obtain comparable results (see
Supporting Information). Similar yields were obtained when in-
creasing the chain length of the alcohol partner (products
10aa vs. 10ab vs. 10ac). On the other hand, yields decreased
when bulky secondary and tertiary alcohols were employed, in
particular with tert-butanol (10ae). Cyclic alcohols could also
be used as alcohol partners with maintained good yields of
the a,b-unsaturated esters (10af and 10ag). The product 10ah
Allenynes with internal alkynes were used for the formation
of tetrasubstituted a,b-unsaturated esters. As expected, aro-
Chem. Eur. J. 2014, 20, 7608 – 7612
7609
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