Synthesis of Vinyl Chlorides via Triphosgene-Pyridine Activation of Ketones

J Org Chem. 2015 Sep 4;80(17):8815-20. doi: 10.1021/acs.joc.5b01137. Epub 2015 Aug 24.

Abstract

Herein, we describe a mild method to prepare aliphatic and aromatic vinyl chlorides from their corresponding ketones via triphosgene-pyridine activation in dichloromethane at reflux. The mechanism of this reaction is proposed to involve formation of a putative α-chloro pyridinium carbamate intermediate, which appeared to readily undergo E2 elimination in the presence of pyridine.