Carbene adduct of cyclopalladated ferrocenylimine catalyzed α-arylation of ketones with aryl chlorides or bromides

N-Heterocyclic carbene complexes enabling the α-arylation of carbonyl compounds

The considerable importance of α-arylated carbonyl compounds, which are widely used as final products or as key intermediates in the pharmaceutical industry, has prompted numerous research groups to develop efficient synthetic strategies for their preparation in recent decades. In this context, the α-arylation of carbonyl compounds catalyzed by transition-metal complexes have been particularly helpful in constructing this motif. As illustrated in this contribution, tremendous advances have taken place using palladium- and nickel-NHC (NHC = N-heterocyclic carbene) complexes as pre-catalysts for the arylation of a wide range of ketones, aldehydes, esters and amides with electron-rich, electron-neutral, electron-poor, and sterically hindered aryl halides or pseudo-halides. Despite significant progress, especially in asymmetric α-arylations promoted by chiral NHC ligands, there are numerous challenges which have and continue to encourage further studies on this topic. Some of these are presented in this report.

Different effects of metal-NHC bond cleavage on the Pd/NHC and Ni/NHC catalyzed α-arylation of ketones with aryl halides

Fundamental differences in the behavior of Pd/NHC and Ni/NHC catalytic systems in ketones α-arylation were elucidated and exploited.

Metal-free, one-pot, sequential protocol for transforming α,β-epoxy ketones to β-hydroxy ketones and α-methylene ketones

A new sequential, one-pot protocol for transforming 1,3-disubstituted 2,3-epoxy ketones to β-hydroxy ketones and α-methylene ketones has been developed. Reaction of epoxy ketones with boron trifluoride etherate (BF3·OEt2) generates the cationic intermediates by regioselective epoxide ring opening and an acyl shift. Then, a treatment of these cations with 2-aryl-1,3-dimethylbenzimidazolines (DMBIH) results in formation of 1,2-disubstituted 3-hydroxy ketones. DMBIH serves as a hydride donor in the second step of this process. Finally, the β-hydroxy ketones can be converted to 1,2-disubstituted 2-methylene ketones by treatment with methanesulfonic acid or a combination of methanesulfonyl chloride and triethylamine. Importantly, the sequential steps involved in formation of the α-methylene ketone products can be carried out in one pot.

N-heterocyclic carbene–palladium(ii)-1-methylimidazole complex catalyzed α-arylation reactions of tetralones with aryl chlorides and further transformation of the products

NHC–Pd(ii)–Im complex-catalyzed α-arylation of tetralones with aryl chlorides and further transformation of the products was reported.