Highly efficient substitution of allylic picolinates with copper reagents derived from aryl-, alkenyl-, furyl-, and thienyl-lithiums

Allylic substitution for construction of a chiral quaternary carbon possessing an aryl group

Phenylcopper reagents derived from 2:1 PhMgBr/Cu(acac)2 and 3:1:1 PhMgBr/Cu(acac)2/ZnI2 were found to be highly reactive and regioselective in the allylic substitution of γ,γ-disubstituted secondary allylic picolinates designed for construction of a quaternary carbon, whereas the previous 2:1 ArMgBr/CuBr·Me2S reagent and that with ZnX2 were unsuccessful. The generality of the ArMgBr/Cu(acac)2 reagent was examined with enantiomerically enriched allylic picolinates, which furnished quaternary carbons with high efficiency in >92% regioselectivity and >97% chirality transfer. Two cyclohexanes with a quaternary carbon were synthesized by using these reagents.