Practical Synthesis of Axially Chiral Dicarboxylates via Pd-Catalyzed External-CO-Free Carbonylation

We have developed a safe and practical synthetic method for preparing axially chiral diphenyl dicarboxylates using Pd-catalyzed external-CO-free carbonylation with phenyl formate as a CO surrogate. Optimized conditions consisted of axially chiral [1,1'-binaphthalene]-2,2'-diyl ditriflate and its congeners, each easily prepared from commercially available enantiomerically pure diols, Pd(OAc)₂, 1,3-bis(diphenylphosphino)propane, ethyldiisopropylamine, and no solvent. To demonstrate the potential utility of these products, this method was conducted on gram-scale and the phenyl ester products were converted to other useful compounds, and both processes were carried out without difficulty.