LETTER
2-Carbon Building Block for Vinylboronate Suzuki–Miyaura Coupling Reactions
531
species in the catalytic cycle. This is further demonstrated bromide in situ and coupling with different boronic acids.6
when examining the syntheses of para-substituted sty- Further studies on the optimization of these reactions is
renes (entries 1–4 and 8–11). In general, and best demon- underway, particularly with respect to the bromides, and
strated under conditions B, the yields obtained increase the factors which affect the chemoselectivity of the
with the electron-withdrawing nature of the substituent Suzuki–Miyaura vs. Heck coupling. These details and ap-
group.
plication of these reactions for use in natural product and
polyene synthesis will be reported in due course.
L
Pd
X
L
OR
Pd(0)L2
-
X
R
X
+
L
R
L
R
Pd
B
O
Acknowledgment
OR
O
-
O
11
B
14
13
We are grateful to the EPSRC for a DTA award to S.J.R.T. and to
GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals for a CASE studentship.
O
12
(-PdL2)
B
O
R
O
8
15
References
Suzuki-Miyaura
product
R
(1) Thirsk, C.; Whiting, A. J. Chem. Soc., Perkin Trans. 1 2002,
8, 999.
R
L
R'3N
Heck
product
(2) (a) Omura, S.; Tanaka, Y.; Kanaya, I.; Shinose, M.;
Takahashi, Y. J. Antibiot. 1990, 43, 1034. (b) Henaff, N.;
Whiting, A. Org. Lett. 1999, 1, 1137. (c) Henaff, N.;
Whiting, A. Tetrahedron 2000, 56, 5193.
Pd
X
L
(-HX)
B
O
B
O
O
O
(-PdL2)
17
16
(3) (a) Hunt, A. R.; Stewart, S. K.; Whiting, A. Tetrahedron
Lett. 1993, 34, 3599. (b) Stewart, S. K.; Whiting, A. J.
Organomet. Chem. 1994, 482, 293. (c) Stewart, S. K.;
Whiting, A. Tetrahedron Lett. 1995, 36, 3925.
Scheme 1 Mechanistic explanation for formation of the Heck vs.
Suzuki–Miyaura coupled products
(4) (a) Nakagawa, M.; Furihata, K.; Hayakawa, Y.; Seto, H.
Tetrahedron Lett. 1991, 32, 659. (b)Hasegawa, T.;Kamiya,
T.; Henmi, T.; Iwasaki, H.; Yamatodani, S. J. Antibiot. 1975,
28, 167. (c) Nakagawa, M.; Toda, Y.; Furihata, K.;
Hayakawa, Y.; Seto, H. J. Antibiot. 1992, 45, 1133.
(5) Lightfoot, A. P.; Maw, G.; Thirsk, C.; Twiddle, S. J. R.;
Whiting, A. Tetrahedron Lett. 2003, 44, 7645.
(6) (a) Lando, V. R.; Monteiro, A. L. Org. Lett. 2003, 5, 2891.
(b) Molander, G. A.; Rivero, M. R. Org. Lett. 2002, 4, 107.
(c) Molander, G. A.; Bernardi, C. R. J. Org. Chem. 2002, 67,
8424.
Of particular interest with respect to the synthesis of con-
jugated systems and polyenes are the reactions of the (E)-
and (Z)-styryl iodides (entries 6, 7). The (E)-styryl iodide
(5f) showed good coupling under conditions B and C,
however, use of potassium tert-butoxide led to the forma-
tion of phenylacetylene 10, which reacted further with
(E)-styryl iodide (5f) to form the corresponding ene-yne
9. For the (Z)-styryl iodide (5g), good coupling was again
observed when using conditions B (some phenylacetylene
produced) and C. When using potassium tert-butoxide,
the major product was phenylacetylene, with only trace
coupling to derive either the diene or ene-yne, which un-
derlines the considerably increased susceptibility towards
elimination of HI of the (Z)- vs. (E)-alkenyl iodides 5g vs.
5f, respectively. Hence, for sensitive substrates, the
choice of base in such coupling reactions is vitally impor-
tant.
(7) Typical Procedure, Conditions A.
To an oven dried Schlenk-like tube under argon was added
Pd(PPh3)4 (39 mg, 33.8 mmol) and t-BuOK (91 mg, 0.81
mmol), followed by THF (6 mL), substrate (0.675 mmol)
and boronate 4 (0.125 g, 0.81 mmol). The tube was heated at
67 °C for 24 h before cooling, dilution with Et2O (30 mL)
and filtration through Celite. This solution was treated with
undecane (50 mL, 37.5 mg) and a portion was analyzed by
GC. 1H NMR analysis to determine the Heck: Suzuki ratio,
which was carried out after evaporation to give the crude
product. Purification was carried out by silica gel column
chromatography (hexane as eluant).
When comparing the use of the different bases used for
the coupling reactions (Table 1), for example with the io-
dides (with the exception of styryl systems), the order of
reactivity generally followed the trend of t-BuOK > KOH,
with the use of Ag2O giving variable results depending on
the nature of the halide substrate.
(8) Uenishi, J.; Beau, J.; Armstrong, R. W.; Kishi, Y. J. Am.
Chem. Soc. 1987, 109, 4756.
(9) Characterization data for products 8a–e, 8h and 10 was
consistent with commercial samples. See: (a) 8f: Lebel, H.
V.; Paquet, V. Organometallics 2004, 23, 1187. (b) 8g:
Chinkov, N.; Majumdar, S.; Marek, I. J. Am. Chem. Soc.
2002, 124, 10282.
(10) Tinnemans, A. H. A.; Laarhoven, W. H. J. Chem. Soc.,
Perkin Trans. 2 1976, 10, 1104.
(11) Miyaura, N. J. Organomet. Chem. 2002, 653, 54.
The results obtained (Table 1) demonstrate the potential
use of the vinylboronate 4 in Suzuki–Miyaura coupling
reactions for a range of substrates, which are generally
much more convenient than using a strong alkylating
agent such as 1,2-dibromoethane generating vinyl
Synlett 2005, No. 3, 529–531 © Thieme Stuttgart · New York