Cross-coupling reactions of two different activated alkenes through tetrabutylammonium fluoride (TBAF) promoted deprotonation/activation strategy: a regioselective construction of quaternary carbon centers.

A novel TBAF-promoted intermolecular crossed-conjugate addition has been developed. For a range of cyclic ß-halo-α,ß-unsaturated carbonyl compounds, the vinylogous enolates generated by deprotonation at the γ-position preferentially reacted with Michael acceptors at the α-position to deliver cross-coupling products in good yields.