Palladium® complexes hydropalladation/carbopalladation

Alike olefins, allenes also undergo palladium mediated addition in the presence of N-H or O-H bonds. Although these reactions show some similarity to Wacker-type processes, from the mechanistic point of view they are quite different. Allenes, such as the cr-aminoallene in 3.69., usually undergo addition with palladium complexes (e.g. carbopalladation in 3.69. and 3.70., or hydropalladation in 3.71.), which leads to the formation of a functionalized allylpalladium complex. Subsequent intramolecular nucleophilic attack by the amino group leads to the closure of the pyrroline ring.87... 

In this section, Pd(0)-catalyzed reactions of allenes with nucleophiles are treated, which are clearly different mechanistically from the reactions explained in the above. Attack of nucleophiles may occur at C-1, C-2, and C-3 carbons of the allenes 63. Among them, attack at C-3 to give 64 is predominant. Most importantly, reactions of allenes with pronucleophiles start by the oxidative addition of pronucleophiles to Pd(0) to generate H-Pd-Nu 65. The formation of 64 by hydro-carbonation can be explained in two ways in the case where Nu-H is the carbon pronucleophile. As one possibility, hydropalladation of one of the two double bonds occurs to afford the terminal palladium intermediate 66, which is stabilized by the formation of 7r-allyl complex 67, and reductive elimination provides the C-3 adduct 68. Another possibility is carbopalladation to generate 69, and subsequent reductive elimination provides 68. Of these two possibilities, the hydropalladation mechanism is preferable. 

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