O- and N-Selective Electrophilic Activation of Allylic Alcohols and Amines in Pd-Catalyzed Direct Alkylation.

Catalytic control of chemoselectivity is crucial in the synthesis of highly functionalized compounds. Although there are reports of efficient chemoselective reactions of alcohols and amines as nucleophiles, there are no reports of the chemoselective activation of alcohols and amines as electrophiles. In this study, highly O- and N-selective electrophilic activation of allylic alcohols and amines was achieved in Pd-catalyzed direct allylic alkylation. Allylamines were inherently more reactive than allylic alcohols (N-selectivity). On the other hand, the addition of catalytic amounts of 9-phenanthreneboronic acid preferentially activated allylic alcohols over allylamines (O-selectivity). Density functional theory (DFT) calculations suggested that the N-selectivity is due to the selective activation of allylic amines with ammonium cations, and boronate formation accelerates the activation of allylic alcohols.

A short scalable route to (-)-α-kainic acid using Pt-catalyzed direct allylic amination.

An increased supply of scarce or inaccessible natural products is essential for the development of more sophisticated pharmaceutical agents and biological tools, and thus the development of atom-economical, step-economical and scalable processes to access these natural products is in high demand. Herein we report the development of a short, scalable total synthesis of (-)-α-kainic acid, a useful compound in neuropharmacology that is, however, limited in supply from natural resources. The synthesis features sequential platinum-catalyzed direct allylic aminations and thermal ene-cyclization, enabling the gram-scale synthesis of (-)-α-kainic acid in six steps and 34% overall yield.

Dual platinum and pyrrolidine catalysis in the direct alkylation of allylic alcohols: selective synthesis of monoallylation products.

A dual platinum- and pyrrolidine-catalyzed direct allylic alkylation of allylic alcohols with various active methylene compounds to produce products with high monoallylation selectivity was developed. The use of pyrrolidine and acetic acid was essential, not only for preventing undesirable side reactions, but also for obtaining high monoallylation selectivity.