Materials, containing metal triflates

Certain alkenes can be alkenylated by alkenyl triflates (bromides, iodides) and ary-lated by aryl triflates (bromides, iodides) even though they do not contain a metal. For these so called Heck reactions to occur, catalytic amounts of palladium(II) acetate and triphenylphosphine, as well as stoichiometric amounts of triethylamine, need to be added to the mixture of the starting materials. The amine serves to reduce Pd(II) to the catalytically active Pd(0) complex (cf. Section 13.3.4). The amine also has an important second role in that it neutralizes the strong acid formed in the reaction (TfOH, HBr, and HI). Apart from that, there also exists a variation of the Heck reaction that works without triphenylphosphine (examples in Figures 13.27 and 13.29). 

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