New chiral phosphetanes: Synthesis and use in the palladium-catalyzed allylic alkylation

Article abstract of DOI:10.1016/S0022-328X(96)06563-1

The new chiral phosphetane-acetals 4a-d and 10a-d were synthesized and evaluated as coligands for the palladium-catalyzed allylic alkylation of 1,3-diphenyl-2-propenyl acetate with sodium malonate. For each set of epimeric phosphetanes, the enantiomeric excesses are highly dependent on the relative configurations of the various chiral centers. The highest asymmetric induction was observed with phosphetane 4a. An X-ray crystal structure of the complex (allyl)PdCl(4a) is also reported.