Oxidative Palladium(II) Catalysis
A R T I C L E S
Table 6. Cross-Coupling Reactions of tert-Butyl Acrylate with
Various Alkenyl Boron Compounds under Base-Free Conditions
than that for the corresponding acids due to the repulsion
between the alkenylpalladium complex and the sterically
hindered ketal group of alkenylboronic esters, averting the
unwanted homo-couplings. For example, the cross-coupling
reaction with hexenyl boronic acid (16) and tert-butyl acrylate
afforded 64% of diene compound 2 along with 35% of homo-
coupled product 3 even under base-free conditions (entry 1).
For these reasons, we conducted the coupling reactions with
boron ester compounds, which were easily prepared from the
corresponding boronic acids in nearly quantitative yields.
Pinacol boron esters 17 and 19 containing the alcohol
functional moieties were subjected to base-free oxidative Pd-
(II) catalysis, giving rise to the exclusive formation of (E,E)-
dienes 18 and 20 in high yields, respectively. Highly substituted
alkenylboron ester compounds were also compatible with this
protocol. Isopropenyl pinacol boron ester (21) prepared from
the corresponding bromide via Grignard reaction with the alkyl
borate18,25 reacted smoothly to offer diene compound 22 in 86%
yield and with high selectivity. Aryl-substituted boronic ester
23 gave the corresponding (E,E)-dienoate 24 efficiently. Fur-
thermore, palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling with cis-hexenyl
pinacolboronic ester 2519 yielded (E,Z)-diene 26 with full
retention of the olefin stereochemistry. Advantageously, highly
functionalized structural groups can be incorporated for further
manipulation utilizing this protocol.
a Isolated yields. b TMS group was deprotected during column chroma-
tography. c The reaction time is 8 h.
On the basis of these results, we would like to suggest a
plausible catalytic mechanism for base-free oxygen-promoted
Pd(II) catalysis as follows (Figure 1): initial transmetallation
should be feasible with an alkene boron compound even without
activating it to an “ate” complex, giving the palladium(II)
intermediate I; the second incorporation of an alkenyl group
can be carried out by migratory insertion, which would be
followed by â-hydride elimination to produce cross-coupling
product III and Pd(0) species without the aid of bases; molecular
oxygen would then oxidize the resulting Pd(0) to a peroxopal-
ladium complex V,12 which can react with another alkenylboron
compound to regenerate alkene-Pd(II)-L complex I.13 As we
confirmed in previous work,11 oxygen is crucial for the catalytic
cycle, acting as an efficient Pd(0) reoxidant. The most notable
feature of the proposed mechanism is that transmetallation takes
place in the first alkenylation process, facilitating the whole
catalysis under mild conditions. We believe that this transmet-
allation operation is facile due to lack of steric repulsion, which
isomers only. However, acrylonitrile furnished a mixture of E-
and Z-isomers as expected, mainly due to the lack of steric
presence (entry 4).17 We examined a number of cases in addition
to the reported ones here and came to a conclusion that the
E-selectivity was prominent.
The reaction with disubstituted alkenes such as tert-butyl
methacrylate and ethyl crotonate afforded the corresponding
methyl-substituted diene products 12 and 13 in 90% and 89%
yields, respectively, while exhibiting excellent E-selectivities
(entries 5 and 6). Interestingly, in the case of R-methyl styrene,
the coupling reactions provided the isomeric mixtures of diene
compounds 14 due to the different pathways of â-hydride
elimination during the reaction cycle (entry 7). The reaction
with cis-â-methyl styrene also provided an isomeric mixture
of coupling compound 15 in moderate yield (entry 8).
Regardless of the steric and electronic nature of the alkenes,
the reaction under the base-free conditions delivered the
corresponding cross-coupled products exclusively without homo-
coupled products. To our delight, yields were generally desirably
high due to excellent chemoselectivities, and stereoselective
outcomes were outstandingly in favor of the E-isomer. In
particular, E-selective preparation of trisubstituted alkenes
should be of great value because of known difficulty in their
stereoselective synthesis.
(18) (a) Molander, G. A.; Ribagorda, M. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2003, 125, 11148.
(b) Ueda, M.; Saitoh, A.; Miyaura, N. J. Organomet. Chem. 2002, 642,
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(b) Gelpke, A. E. S.; Veerman, J. J. N.; Goedheijt, M. S.; Kamer, P. C. J.;
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Genet, J. P.; Blart, E.; Savignac, M. Synlett 1992, 715.
(20) (a) Enquist, P.-A.; Lindh, J.; Nilsson, P.; Larhed, M. Green Chem. 2006,
8, 338. (b) Andappan, M. M. S.; Nilsson, P; Larhed, M. Chem. Commun.
2004, 218. (c) von Schenck, H.; Akermark, B.; Svensson, M. J. Am. Chem.
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To further examine the method versatility, we carried out
cross-coupling reactions of various alkenylboronic esters with
tert-butyl acrylate (Table 6). The coupling reaction with boronic
acids furnished considerable amounts of homo-coupled products
because alkenylboronic acids are known to be more reactive
than the corresponding boronic esters. However, the second
transmetallation for the alkenylboronic esters may be slower
(24) For the Heck reaction with cyclohexenone, see: (a) Krishna, T. R.;
Jayaraman, N. Tetraheron Lett. 2004, 60, 10325. (b) Gupta, A. K.; Song,
C. H.; Oh, C. H. Tetrahedron Lett. 2004, 45, 4113. (c) Gelpke, A. E. S.;
Veerman, J. J. N.; Goedheijt, M. S.; Kamer, P. C. J.; van Leeuwen, P. W.
N. M.; Hiemstra, H. Tetrahedron 1999, 55, 6657.
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