Oxypalladation alkene-alcohol reactions

In the presence of CO, terminal alkenes are oxidized by PdCl2 to RCH(C1)CH2C0C1. When the reaction is made catalytic in palladium by the addition of CuCl2 and oxygen, and carried out in alcohols, the products are a, /3-unsaturated esters, /3-alkoxy esters, and, under some conditions, succinate derivatives (equation 87). Two mechanisms are possible for this reaction. In the first, an oxypalladation can produce a Pd-CH2-CH2-X species, which can undergo CO insertion into the Pd-C bond. Alternatively, an XCOPd species can form and add across the double bond. Loss of Pd-H can generate the a, /3-unsaturated ester, or a second carbonylation step can lead to succinate derivatives. 

The Wacker reaction of ethylene or terminal aUcenes proceeds via nncleophilic attack of water to coordinated alkenes to give oxypalladation intermediates from which /3-Pd-H elimination takes place. This process produces vinyl alcohols, which, nnder the influence of palladium, lead to acetaldehyde or methyl ketones as the final prodnct (Scheme 1). 

The oxidative addition reactions to alkenes promoted or catalyzed by PdCl2(CH3CN)2 have been classified based on the nature of the attacking species. Oxygen nucleophiles such as water, alcohols and carboxylic acids undergo oxypalladation, while ammonia, amines and their derivatives are typical nucleophiles for aminopalladation. Carbopalladation with active methylene compounds is also discussed The palladium-catalyzed intramolecular hetero- and carbopalladation of olefins is extensively used as the ring-forming step in the synthesis of a variety of heterocyclic and carbocyclic systems, and representative examples are provided. 

The palladium(II)-catalyzed olefin carbonylation reaction was first reported more than 30 years ago in studies by Stille and co-workers and James et al. The reaction of carbon monoxide with cis- and tra 5-but-2-ene in methanol in the presence of palladium(II)-chloride and copper(II)-chloride yielded threo- and eryt/zro-3-methoxy-2-methyl-butanoate, respectively. The transformation that was based on the well-known Wacker process for oxidation of ethylene into acetaldehyde in water " is now broadly defined as the Pd(II)-catalyzed oxycarbonylation of the unsaturated carbon-carbon bonds. This domino reaction includes oxypalladation of alkenes, migratory insertion of carbon monoxide, and alkoxylation. Since the development of this process, several transformations mediated by palladium(II) compounds have been described. The direct oxidative bisfunctionalization of alkenes represents a powerful transformation in the field of chemical synthesis. Palladium(II)-promoted carbonylation of alkenes in the presence of water/alcohol may lead to alkyl carboxylic acids (hydrocarboxylation), diesters [bis(aIkoxycarbonyla-tion)], (3-alkoxy carboxylic acids (alkoxy-carboxylation), or (3-alkoxy esters (alkoxy-carbonylation or alkoxy-alkoxy-carbonylation). Particularly attractive features of these multitransformation processes include the following ... 

---