Kinetic studies on cyclopalladation in palladium(II) complexes containing an indole moiety

Abstract

Various Pd"C complexes have been developed to date, affording deep insights into the reaction intermediates in useful catalytic reactions in organic syntheses. Cyclopalladation is one of the most famous Pd"C bond formation reactions to generate the palladacycles. Indole is an electron-rich aromatic ring involved in the side chain of an essential amino acid, tryptophan (Trp), and Trp and its derivatives are important in biological systems, such as electron transfer in protein, cofactors for conversion of biological molecules and so on. Pd catalysts are also useful for syntheses of such indole derivatives, and the mechanisms are considered to be through the Pd"C intermediates. However, the detailed properties and formation mechanisms of Pd"indole species are still unclear. With these points in mind, we focus on Pd(II)"indole-C2 carbon bond formations using various Pd(II) complexes having an indole moiety, especially on the recent studies on the kinetic analyses for these cyclopalladation reactions and their detailed mechanisms.