Recent developments in Pd-catalyzed oxidative heck cross coupling reaction of arenes/alkenes with allylic esters

Abstract

The cross coupling reaction of arene with alkene generating substituted olefin through two sp2-C-H bond activation is named oxidative Heck reaction, dehydrogenative Heck reaction (DHR), or Fujiwara-Moritani reaction. In the past decades, these reactions have drawn much attention due to their C-C bond formations via direct C-H functionalization. However, only electron-deficient alkenes are effective coupling partners in most of these systems. The oxidative Heck reaction using electron-rich olefins such as allylic esters and ethers as the coupling partners has rarely been studied. Recently, several novel Pd-catalyzed strategies for cross coupling reactions of arenes/alkenes with allylic esters/ethers have been explored by us and other groups. This review will summarize the developments in this interesting and atom-economic area.