Gold-Catalyzed Heck Reaction

J Am Chem Soc. 2023 Apr 26;145(16):8810-8816. doi: 10.1021/jacs.3c02544. Epub 2023 Apr 16.

Abstract

Herein, we report a gold-catalyzed Heck reaction facilitated by the ligand-enabled Au(I)/Au(III) redox catalysis. The elementary organometallic steps such as migratory insertion and β-hydride elimination have been realized in the catalytic fashion for the first time in gold chemistry. The present methodology not only overcomes the limitations of previously known transition metal-catalyzed Heck reactions such as the requirement of specialized substrates and formation of a mixture of regioisomeric products as a result of the undesirable chain-walking process but also offers complementary regioselectivity as compared to other transition metal catalysis.