Alkenes reductive coupling with vinyl halides

The reaction sequence in the vinylation of aromatic halides and vinyl halides, i.e. the Heck reaction, is oxidative addition of the alkyl halide to a zerovalent palladium complex, then insertion of an alkene and completed by /3-hydride elimination and HX elimination. Initially though, C-H activation of a C-H alkene bond had also been taken into consideration. Although the Heck reaction reduces the formation of salt by-products by half compared with cross-coupling reactions, salts are still formed in stoichiometric amounts. Further reduction of salt production by a proper choice of aryl precursors has been reported (Chapter III.2.1) [1]. In these examples aromatic carboxylic anhydrides were used instead of halides and the co-produced acid can be recycled and one molecule of carbon monoxide is sacrificed. Catalytic activation of aromatic C-H bonds and subsequent insertion of alkenes leads to new C-C bond formation without production of halide salt byproducts, as shown in Scheme 1. When the hydroarylation reaction is performed with alkynes one obtains arylalkenes, the products of the Heck reaction, which now are synthesized without the co-production of salts. No reoxidation of the metal is required, because palladium(II) is regenerated. 

This method is specific for metallacyclopentanes. The alkene-coupling process is favored by metal reduction. A typical synthetic strategy is the in situ reduction of a metal halide precursor in the presence of the alkene see, for example, the synthesis of 79 in Scheme 34.1 An alkylidene precursor may also lead to a metallacycle with elimination of the car-bene ligand as in the synthesis of 81, representing a deactivation pathway for alkene metathesis catalysts. Ilie two alkenes may be generated in situ in the coordination sphere by rearrangement processes, such as intramolecular hydrogen transfer from an alkyl-vinyl precursor. I ... 

Vinylation or arylation of alkenes with the aid of a palladium catalysts is known as the Heck reaction. The reaction is thought to proceed through the oxidative addition of an organic halide, RX onto a zero-valent [PdL2] species followed by coordination of the olefin, migratory insertion of R, reductive elimination of the coupled product and dehydrohalogenation of the intermediate [HPdXL2] (Scheme 6.1). 

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