Palladium catalyzed desulfurative coupling of allyl sulfides with organoboronic acids

Abstract

A palladium catalyzed desulfurative coupling of allylthioethers with organoboronic acids under mild reaction conditions is described. The reaction exhibits high chemoselectivity and good functional group tolerance, allowing the synthesis of a wide range of α-branched enones. In addition, this approach enables a new retrosynthetic disconnection to multi-functionalised allylic molecules via selective cleavage of the C–S bond, thus providing a complementary allylation protocol to Tsuji–Trost reactions.