Catalyzed intramolecular olefin insertion into a carbon-carbon single bond

Intramolecular insertion of a C-C double bond into a C-C single bond was achieved by treatment of cyclobutanone bearing an o-styryl group at the 3-position with a catalytic amount of a cationic rhodium(I)-dppp complex. Initially, rhodium is inserted between the carbonyl carbon and the alpha-carbon of the cyclobutanone. Intramolecular coordination of the vinyl group results in its migratory insertion into the C-Rh linkage. Reductive elimination affords benzobicyclo[3.2.1]octan-3-one. Notably, a ring-opened alpha,beta-unsaturated ketone was obtained when dppe was used instead of dppp. In this reaction, rhodium cleaved the bond between the alpha sp3 carbon and the beta sp3 carbon of the cyclobutanone. The coordinating vinyl group directs this new regioselectivity of cleavage observed with the dppe ligand.