Tetrahedron Letters
Nickel-catalyzed hydroalkylation of 1,3-dienes with malonates using a
homoallyl carbonate as the 1,3-diene and hydride source
⇑
⇑
Hiroaki Tsuji , Yoshiyuki Takahashi, Motoi Kawatsura
Department of Chemistry, College of Humanities & Sciences, Nihon University, Sakurajosui, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo 156-8550, Japan
a r t i c l e i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history:
The use of a malonate nucleophile in the transition metal-catalyzed hydroalkylation of 1,3-dienes
remains immature. Herein, we report the nickel-catalyzed hydroalkylation of 1,3-dienes with malonates
using a homoallyl carbonate as the 1,3-diene and hydride source. A broad range of homoally carbonates
and malonate derivatives were well tolerated under a Ni/DPEphos catalyst system, providing the corre-
sponding 1,2-hydroalkylation products in 40–94% yields with excellent regioselectivity (32 examples).
We also suggested the possible reaction mechanism for the nickel-catalyzed hydroalkylation of in situ
generated 1,3-dienes with malonates.
Received 18 December 2020
Revised 3 February 2021
Accepted 9 February 2021
Available online 12 February 2021
Keywords:
Nickel Catalysis
Hydroalkylation
Ó 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1
,3-Dienes
Malonates
Homoallyl carbonates
The catalytic hydroalkylation of unsaturated hydrocarbons by
means of a transition metal catalyst presents an attractive strategy
for the formation of carbon–carbon bond in an efficient and atom
economical manner [1]. Due to the presence of an alkene group
on the resulting alkylation products, the catalytic hydroalkylation
of 1,3-dienes offers a rationale route for the manipulation of com-
plex organic molecules [2]. Therefore, this type of reaction has
received continuous interests from the synthetic community and
a wide variety of C-pronucleophiles, such as active methylene
compounds [3], simple carbonyl compounds [4], oxazolones [5],
hydrazones [6], and others [7,1b], were attempted to employ in
the hydroalkylation of 1,3-dienes using nickel and palladium as
the representative catalysts. However, attentions have been spo-
radically paid to the use of a malonate nucleophile, which would
lead to a valuable synthetic intermediate in organic synthesis [8].
Hata and co-workers reported the palladium-catalyzed hydroalky-
lation of 1,3-butadiene with malonates, even though telomeriza-
tion and 1,2- and 1,4-additions occurred during the catalysis
alyzed hydroalkylation of a series 1,3-dienes with activated C-
pronucleophiles, providing the hydroalkylation products in up to
95% yield with high enantioselectivity (Scheme 1b) [11]. However,
only Meldrum’s acid derivatives can be utilized as a malonate ana-
logue in this palladium catalysis. Given these research precedents,
the transition metal-catalyzed hydroalkylation of 1,3-dienes with
malonates is still immature in terms of the generality of 1,3-dienes
as well as malonates.
We have recently succeeded in the development of the nickel-
catalyzed hydroarylation of in situ generated 1,3-dienes with aryl-
boronic acids using a secondary homoallyl carbonate as a surrogate
for the 1,3-diene and hydride source [12]. This method features the
use of homoallyl carbonates, which is readily prepared by the ally-
lation of aldehydes [13] followed by the formation of carbonate
esters, as both 1,3-dienes and hydride sources. To address the
above-mentioned issue in the transition metal-catalyzed
hydroalkylation of 1,3-dienes, we sought to investigate the
hydroalkylation of 1,3-dienes with malonates based on the
methodology we developed. Herein, we report the nickel-catalyzed
hydroalkylation of in situ generated 1,3-dienes with a malonate
using a secondary homoallyl carbonate as the 1,3-diene and
hydride source (Scheme 1c).
(Scheme 1a) [9]. After the pioneering work, Moberg, Jolly, and
Hartwig independently disclosed the nickel- and palladium-cat-
alyzed hydroalkylation of 1,3-dienes, such as 1,3-butadiene, 2,3-
dimethylbutadiene, 1,3-cyclohexadiene, and 1,3-cyclopentadiene,
with a limited number of malonates as a carbon nucleophile [10].
Recently, Malcolmson and co-workers reported the palladium-cat-
We initially examined the optimization of the reaction condi-
tions using secondary homoallyl carbonate 1a as the 1,3-diene
and hydride source (Table 1). At the outset of the optimization
study, dimethyl methylmalonate (2a) was subjected to a catalyst
⇑
2 6
system consisting of 10 mol% Ni(cod) and 20 mol% P(p-MeOC -
4 3
H ) ,
which was proved to be effective for the previous
(
M. Kawatsura).
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