Acetonitriles, chiral palladium complexes

The bis(acetonitrile)palladium dichloride catalyzed rearrangement of R,E)-4 results in a 7 3 product distribution of 5 and 6. but a virtually complete 1.4-chirality transfer is observed (S 98 % ec)994. A possible mechanism for this type of reaction is that the palladium dichloride diene complex undergoes oxidative addition of the allylic C—C bonds to form a bis( /3-al-lyl)palladium(IV) intermediate 7 or 8, which can then reductively eliminate to give a palladium ) dichloride complex of the Cope product994 (for another mechanism see p 3572). 

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