Annulation reactions, palladium-catalysed

It is reported that the palladium-catalysed intramolecular aromatization of 1,1 -dichIoro-9//-fluoren-9-yIidcnc (15) may lead to the formation of fidlerene fragments.89 The annulation reaction, under palladium catalysis, between iodoanilines and ketones may yield indole derivatives.90 There have also been studies of the palladium-catalysed carbonylation of o-iodophenols with allenes which may lead to l-benzopyran-4-one derivatives,91 of the intramolecular coupling of phenols with aryl halides,92 and of the intramolecular Heck arylation of cyclic enamides.93... 

The Wacker reaction provides a method for the preparation of 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds, by formation of an enolate, allylation with an allyl halide, followed by palladium-catalysed oxidation of the terminal alkene. The product 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds can be treated with base to promote intramolecular aldol reaction (Robinson annulation - see Section 1.1.2) to give cyclopentenones. Thus, in a synthesis of pentalenene, Wacker oxidation of the 2-aUyl ketone 115 gave the 1,4-diketone 116, which was converted to the cyclopentenone 117 (5.115). ... 

The palladium-catalysed [3+2] ring annulation reaction has been... 

Another cyclization process was observed in the palladium(0)-catalysed transformation of substrates of type 67, which gave annulated naphthalines 68 as described by Grigg et al. [43]. The reaction can also be performed as a two-component transformation involving a combination of an intra- and intermolecular process (Scheme 8.15). 

Based on a transformation described by Catellani and coworkers [80], Lautens s group [81] developed a series of syntheses of carbocycles and heterocycles from aryl iodide, alkyl halides and Mizoroki-Heck acceptors. In an early example, the authors described a three-component domino reaction catalysed by palladium for the synthesis of benzo-annulated oxacycles 144 (Scheme 8.37). To do so, they used an m-iodoaryl iodoalkyl ether 143, an alkene substimted with an electron-withdrawing group, such as t-butyl acrylate and an iodoalkane such as -BuI in the presence of norbomene. It is proposed that, after the oxidative addition of the aryliodide, a Mizoroki-Heck-type reaction with nor-bornene and a C—H activation first takes place to form a palladacycle PdCl, which is then alkylated with the iodoalkane (Scheme 8.37). A second C—H activation occurs and then, via the formation of the oxacycle OCl, norbomene is eliminated. Finally, the aryl-palladium species obtained reacts with the acrylate. The alkylation step of palladacycles of the type PdCl and PdCl was studied in more detail by Echavarren and coworkers [82] using computational methods. They concluded that, after a C—H activation, the formation of a C(sp )—C(sp ) bond between the palladacycle PdCl and an iodoalkane presumably proceeds by oxidative addition to form a palladium(IV) species to give PdC2. This stays, in contrast with the reaction between a C(sp )—X electrophile (vinyl or aromatic halide) and PdCl, to form a new C(sp )—C(sp ) bond which takes place through a transmetallation. 

In 2003, Ferreira and Stoltz [48] described an aerobic palladium(II)-catalysed intramolecular oxidative Heck reaction to form annulated indoles. The core annulated indole smicture is prevalent in a number of biologically active natural products, including pax-illine, penitrem A, and yuehchukene (Figure 9.5). Because indoles are susceptible to oxidative decomposition, carefully optimized conditions had to be developed that were compatible with the substrate and product indole species. 

As in the palladium(II)-catalysed indole annulation, a diastereomerically pure substrate was designed to help elucidate the mechanism of the benzofuran and dihydrobenzo-furan syntheses (Scheme 9.21). When aryl allyl ether 163 was treated with the palladium oxidation catalyst, dihydrobenzofuran 164 was produced as an exclusive di-astereomer in 60% yield. This observation confirmed that an oxidative Heck reaction pathway, featuring arene palladation, alkene insertion and /3-hydride elimination, was operative. 

In 2006, Lu and coworkers [53] described a method for the synthesis of carbazoles using the palladium(ll)-catalysed oxidative Heck reaction (Scheme 9.25). Indole 177 was subjected to catalytic Pd(OAc)2 and 2.1equiv of benzoquinone to afford carbazole 178 in 88% yield. Because the alkene is 1,1-disubstituted, a 5-exo cyclization mode (as seen in Ferreira and Stoltz s [48] indole annulation) is unproductive, and a 6-endo cyclization ultimately occurs. The putative intermediate is then believed to be oxidized to the aromatic carbazole by the excess benzoquinone. When indole 179, featuring a terminal alkene, was treated with these oxidative conditions, a mixture of products from 6-endo cyclization (180) and 5-exo cyclization (and subsequent isomerization and [3+2] cycloaddition, 181) was observed. A variety of substituted carbazoles were obtained by this palladium(n)-catalysed oxidative cyclization. 

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