Pick your Pd partners: A number of catalytic systems have been developed for palladium-catalyzed CH activation/CC bond formation. Recent studies concerning the palladium(II)-catalyzed coupling of CH bonds with organometallic reagents through a PdII/Pd0 catalytic cycle are discussed (see scheme), and the versatility and practicality of this new mode of catalysis are presented. Unaddressed questions and the potential for development in the field are also addressed.

In the past decade, palladium-catalyzed CH activation/CC bond-forming reactions have emerged as promising new catalytic transformations; however, development in this field is still at an early stage compared to the state of the art in cross-coupling reactions using aryl and alkyl halides. This Review begins with a brief introduction of four extensively investigated modes of catalysis for forming CC bonds from CH bonds: PdII/Pd0, PdII/PdIV, Pd0/PdII/PdIV, and Pd0/PdII catalysis. A more detailed discussion is then directed towards the recent development of palladium(II)-catalyzed coupling of CH bonds with organometallic reagents through a PdII/Pd0 catalytic cycle. Despite the progress made to date, improving the versatility and practicality of this new reaction remains a tremendous challenge.

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Palladium(II)-catalyzed C-H activation/C-C cross-coupling reactions: versatility and practicality.

The biaryl structural motif is a predominant feature in many pharmaceutically relevant and biologically active compounds. As a result, for over a century 1 organic chemists have sought to develop new and more efficient aryl -aryl bond-forming methods. Although there exist a variety of routes for the construction of aryl -aryl bonds, arguably the most common method is through the use of transition-metalmediated reactions. 2-4 While earlier reports focused on the use of stoichiometric quantities of a transition metal to carry out the desired transformation, modern methods of transitionmetal-catalyzed aryl -aryl coupling have focused on the development of high-yielding reactions achieved with excellent selectivity and high functional group tolerance under mild reaction conditions. Typically, these reactions involve either the coupling of an aryl halide or pseudohalide with an organometallic reagent (Scheme 1), or the homocoupling of two aryl halides or two organometallic reagents. Although a number of improvements have developed the former process into an industrially very useful and attractive method for the construction of aryl -aryl bonds, the need still exists for more efficient routes whereby the same outcome is accomplished, but with reduced waste and in fewer steps. In particular, the obligation to use coupling partners that are both activated is wasteful since it necessitates the installation and then subsequent disposal of stoichiometric activating agents. Furthermore, preparation of preactivated aryl substrates often requires several steps, which in itself can be a time-consuming and economically inefficient process.

http://aether.cmi.ua.ac.be/artikels/Artikels%20Gitte/Artikels/Reviews/Heck-Type-lautens.pdf

Aryl-aryl bond formation by transition-metal-catalyzed direct arylation.

Fluorogenic and chromogenic chemosensors and reagents for anions.

The site-selective formation of carbon-carbon bonds through direct functionalizations of otherwise unreactive carbon-hydrogen bonds constitutes an economically attractive strategy for an overall streamlining of sustainable syntheses. In recent decades, intensive research efforts have led to the development of various reaction conditions for challenging C-H bond functionalizations, among which transition-metal-catalyzed transformations arguably constitute thus far the most valuable tool. For instance, the use of inter alia palladium, ruthenium, rhodium, copper, or iron complexes set the stage for chemo-, site-, diastereo-, and/or enantioselective C-H bond functionalizations. Key to success was generally a detailed mechanistic understanding of the elementary C-H bond metalation step, which depending on the nature of the metal fragment can proceed via several distinct reaction pathways. Traditionally, three different modes of action were primarily considered for CH bond metalations, namely, (i) oxidative addition with electronrich late transition metals, (ii) σ-bond metathesis with early transition metals, and (iii) electrophilic activation with electrondeficient late transition metals (Scheme 1). However, more recent mechanistic studies indicated the existence of a continuum of electrophilic, ambiphilic, and nucleophilic interactions. Within this continuum, detailed experimental and computational analysis provided strong evidence for novel C-H bond metalationmechanisms relying on the assistance of a bifunctional ligand bearing an additional Lewis-basic heteroatom, such as that found in (heteroatom-substituted) secondary phosphine oxides or most prominently carboxylates (Scheme 1, iv). This novel insight into the nature of stoichiometric metalations has served as stimulus for the development of novel transformations based on cocatalytic amounts of carboxylates, which significantly broadened the scope of C-H bond functionalizations in recent years, with most remarkable progress being made in palladiumor ruthenium-catalyzed direct arylations and direct alkylations. These carboxylate-assisted C-H bond transformations were mostly proposed to proceed via a mechanism in which metalation takes place via a concerted base-assisted deprotonation. To mechanistically differentiate these intramolecular metalations new acronyms have recently been introduced into the literature, such as CMD (concerted metalationdeprotonation), IES (internal electrophilic substitution), or AMLA (ambiphilic metal ligand activation), which describe related mechanisms and will be used below where appropriate. This review summarizes the development and scope of carboxylates as cocatalysts in transition-metal-catalyzed C-H functionalizations until autumn 2010. Moreover, experimental and computational studies on stoichiometric metalation reactions being of relevance to the mechanism of these catalytic processes are discussed as well. Mechanistically related C-H bond cleavage reactions with ruthenium or iridium complexes bearing monodentate ligands are, however, only covered with respect to their working mode, and transformations with stoichiometric amounts of simple acetate bases are solely included when their mechanism was suggested to proceed by acetate-assisted metalation.

Carboxylate-assisted transition-metal-catalyzed C-H bond functionalizations: mechanism and scope.

The area of transition-metal-catalyzed direct arylation through cleavage of CH bonds has undergone rapid development in recent years, and is becoming an increasingly viable alternative to traditional cross-coupling reactions with organometallic reagents In particular, palladium and ruthenium catalysts have been described that enable the direct arylation of (hetero)arenes with challenging coupling partners—including electrophilic aryl chlorides and tosylates as well as simple arenes in cross-dehydrogenative arylations Furthermore, less expensive copper, iron, and nickel complexes were recently shown to be effective for economically attractive direct arylations

Transition-metal-catalyzed direct arylation of (hetero)arenes by C-H bond cleavage.

The lithium enolates formed in situ from carboxylic acid esters by treatment with LiNCy2 are arylated at the β-position instead at the more common α-position by aryl halides bearing at the ortho-position electronegative substituents.

Palladium-Catalyzed β Arylation of Carboxylic Esters†

Synthesis of Aromatic α‐Aminoesters: Palladium‐Catalyzed Long‐Range Arylation of Primary C sp 3H Bonds

All C-H bonds are not equal: The intramolecular arylation of unactivated C(sp(3))-H bonds in the presence of a chiral Pd/binepine catalyst allows the synthesis of fused cyclopentanes efficiently and in an diastereo- and enantioselective manner (see scheme).

Diastereo- and enantioselective intramolecular C(sp3)-H arylation for the synthesis of fused cyclopentanes.

A novel catalytic system, based on a mixture of palladium acetate and tris(5-fluoro-2-methylphenyl)phosphane (F-TOTP), has been designed for the intramolecular C--H functionalization of alkane segments. Among other analogues of tris(2-methylphenyl)phosphane (P(o-tol)(3)), F-TOTP was shown to have the optimal metal-bonding properties for this reaction. This catalytic system operated under milder reaction conditions that allowed the regioselective production of various olefins adjacent to a quaternary benzylic carbon atom, as well as novel bi- and tricyclic molecules. A general mechanism was proposed, with the preferential formation of a six-membered palladium(II) palladacycle after oxidative addition and cyclopalladation. The regioselective C--H functionalization of alkyl groups into olefins was illustrated in the synthesis of the antihypertensive drug verapamil and an analogue. A particularly mild ruthenium-catalyzed direct hydroamidation of the intermediate olefin in this synthesis is also reported.

Palladium‐Catalyzed Intramolecular C(sp3)H Functionalization: Catalyst Development and Synthetic Applications

We report a general palladium-catalyzed β-arylation of Boc-piperidines, which yields a variety of valuable 3-arylpiperidines in a simple and direct manner. The β- vs. α-arylation selectivity was controlled by the ligand, with flexible biarylphosphines providing mainly the desired β-arylated products whereas more rigid biarylphosphines mainly furnished the more classical α-arylated products. The computed reaction mechanism (DFT), studied from the common α-palladated intermediate, indicated that the reductive elimination steps leading to the α- and β-arylated products are selectivity-determining. Moreover, the experimental trend obtained with different ligands was well reproduced by the calculations.

Olivier Baudoin

Papers

Palladium-Catalyzed β Arylation of Carboxylic Esters†

Synthesis of Aromatic α‐Aminoesters: Palladium‐Catalyzed Long‐Range Arylation of Primary C sp 3H Bonds

Diastereo- and enantioselective intramolecular C(sp3)-H arylation for the synthesis of fused cyclopentanes.

Palladium‐Catalyzed Intramolecular C(sp3)H Functionalization: Catalyst Development and Synthetic Applications

Ligand-controlled β-selective C(sp3)–H arylation of N-Boc-piperidines