Site-Selective 1,1-Difunctionalization of Unactivated Alkenes Enabled by Cationic Palladium Catalysis

A palladium(II)-catalyzed 1,1-difunctionalization of unactivated terminal and internal alkenes via addition of two nucleophiles was developed using a cationic palladium(II) complex. The palladacycle generated in situ as a result of a regioselective addition of a nucleophile to the alkene can readily undergo regioselective β-hydride elimination and migratory insertion with a cationic palladium catalyst. The resulting η³-π-allyl palladium(II) complex is the key intermediate that reacts with a second nucleophile to furnish the desired 1,1-difunctionalization of the alkene. Under the optimized reaction conditions, a wide range of indoles and anilines add to alkene units of 3-butenoic or 4-pentenoic acid derivatives to afford the synthetically useful γ,γ- or δ,δ-difunctionalized products with excellent regiocontrol. Furthermore, by employing internal hydroxyl or acid groups and external carbon nucleophiles, this transformation enables unsymmetric 1,1-difunctionalization to forge challenging and important oxo quaternary carbon centers. Combining experiments and DFT calculations on the mechanism of the reaction is investigated in detail.