Transition metal-catalyzed reactions, potassium acetate

Use in Transition Metal-catalyzed Reactions. Potassium acetate plays many roles in transition metal-catalyzed reactions. It is sometimes used as the source of acetate ion in the preparation... 

The title compound is commonly used as a base in transition metal-catalyzed reactions. Because these reactions involve multiple elementary steps, KOAc may act as a base in many different ways, and the precise mechanism of deprotonation may not always be known. A study on the influence of base on the palladium-black-catalyzed methoxycarbonylation of aryl iodides identified potassium acetate as a suitable base. This method has been widely adopted, and both sodium and potassium acetate are commonly used (e.g., eq 29). Alternatively, the acetate base may directly remove a proton from a metal center. For example, the Heck reaction (e.g., eq 30) generates a palladium(II) complex that bears hydride and halide ligands, and generation of the catalytically active palladium(0) corr5>lex requires deprotonation with stoichiometric base (eq 31). 

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