Conformational Isomerization as a Process to Determine Selectivity over Reaction Pathways: Effect of Alkene Rotation in Chain Walking via Cis Alkene Intermediates.

In organic reactions, bond-forming and bond-cleaving processes are generally considered to be more important than other processes such as conformational isomerization. We report herein an example where a conformational isomerization process, propeller-like alkene rotation, is considered to determine the selectivity over the reaction pathways. The transition state with the highest energy barrier in some alkylpalladium isomerization (chain walking) events was theoretically indicated to correspond to alkene rotation, while transition states for bond-cleaving ß-hydride elimination and bond-forming migratory insertion were not even observed. It was also suggested both theoretically and experimentally that the palladium chain walking over internal carbons in alkyl chains proceeds via cis alkene intermediates rather than thermodynamically more stable trans alkene intermediates, due to their relative difficulty to undergo alkene rotation.

Remote Arylative Substitution of Alkenes Possessing an Acetoxy Group via ß-Acetoxy Elimination.

Palladium-catalyzed remote arylative substitution was achieved for the reaction of arylboronic acids with alkenes possessing a distant acetoxy group to provide arylation products having an alkene moiety at the remote position. The use of ß-acetoxy elimination as a key step in the catalytic cycle allowed for regioselective formation of unstabilized alkenes after chain walking. This reaction was applicable to various arylboronic acids as well as alkene substrates.