Synthesis of arylacetates from benzylic alcohols and oxalate esters through decarboxylative coupling.

Follow that dream: By combining a reversible transesterification between benzylic alcohols and dialkyl oxalates with catalytic decarboxylation of the resulting esters, a regiospecific C-C-bond-forming reaction to give α-arylacetates was achieved. In the overall process, CO2 and a volatile alcohol are the only byproducts. Various α-arylacetates were thus synthesized in high yields from easily accessible starting materials in the presence of catalytic amounts of Pd(OAc)2, dppp, and DABCO (see scheme).

[Pd(µ-Br)(P(t)Bu3)]2 as a highly active isomerization catalyst: synthesis of enol esters from allylic esters.

The dimeric Pd(I)-complex [Pd(µ-Br)(P(t)Bu3)]2 was found to be highly active for catalyzing double-bond migration in various substrates such as unsaturated ethers, alcohols, amides, and arenes, under mild conditions. It efficiently mediates the conversion of allylic esters into enol esters, rather than inserting into the allylic C-O bond. The broad applicability of this reaction was demonstrated with the synthesis of 22 functionalized enol esters.