Palladium-catalyzed alkynylation of secondary α-bromo carbonyl compounds via Stille coupling

Introduction
Alkylation of terminal alkynes with primary alkyl halides in the presence of a strong base like sodium amide is one of the common methods for the synthesis of longer carbon-chain alkynes. For example, treatment of 1-propyne with sodium amide followed by reaction with ethyl bromide yields 2-pentyne.

Introduction
One of the convenient methods for the preparation of aldehydes and ketones is via hydration of alkynes. Hydroboration-oxidation of alkynes is an indirect hydration reaction in which an alkyne is treated with borane followed by oxidation with alkaline peroxide to form an enol that rapidly converts into an aldehyde or a ketone. Terminal alkynes form aldehydes, whereas internal alkynes give ketones as the final product.

In organic synthesis, the formation of products can be altered by changing the reaction conditions. For example, a dibromo addition product is formed when propene is treated with bromine at room temperature. In contrast, propene undergoes allylic substitution in non-polar solvents at high temperatures to give 3-bromopropene. In order to avoid the addition reaction, the bromine concentration must be kept as low as possible throughout the reaction. This can be achieved using N-bromosuccinimide...

Ketones with α protons are deprotonated by strong bases like lithium diisopropylamide (LDA) to form enolate ions. The anion is stabilized by resonance, and its hybrid structure exhibits negative charges on the carbonyl oxygen and the α carbon. This ambident nucleophile can attack an electrophile via two possible sites: the carbonyl oxygen, known as O-attack, or the α carbon, known as C-attack. The nucleophilic attack via the carbanionic site is preferred. This is due to the strong interaction...

The method to achieve α-brominated carboxylic acids using a mixture of phosphorus tribromide and bromine is known as the Hell–Volhard–Zelinski reaction. The reaction is catalyzed by phosphorus tribromide, which can be used directly or produced in situ from red phosphorus and bromine. The mechanism comprises PBr3 catalyzed conversion of acid to acid bromide and hydrogen bromide. The acid bromide enolizes to its enol form in the presence of HBr. The nucleophilic enol attacks the bromine molecule...

Introduction
Halogenation is another class of electrophilic addition reactions where a halogen molecule gets added across a π bond. In alkynes, the presence of two π bonds allows for the addition of two equivalents of halogens (bromine or chlorine). The addition of the first halogen molecule forms a trans-dihaloalkene as the major product and the cis isomer as the minor product. Subsequent addition of the second equivalent yields the tetrahalide.