Chemoselective Heck arylation of acrolein diethyl acetal catalyzed by an oxime-derived palladacycle

A dimeric 4-hydroxyacetophenone oxime-derived palladacycle has been used as a very efficient precatalyst for the chemoselective arylation of acrolein diethyl acetal to give either cinnamaldehyde derivatives or 3-arylpropanoate esters by proper choice of the reaction conditions. The synthesis of cinnamaldehyde derivatives can be performed by Heck reaction of acrolein diethyl acetal with iodo, bromo or chloroarenes in N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMA) using K2CO3 as base at 120 degrees C and tetra-n-butylammonium acetate (TBAA) and KCI as additives, followed by acid workup. In the case of 3-arylpropanoate esters the corresponding arylation of acrolein diethyl acetal with iodoarenes can be performed at 90 degrees C in aqueous DMA using (dicylohexyl)methylamine as base, whereas for bromoarenes the reaction has to be performed at 120 degrees C using tetra-n-butylammonium bromide (TBAB) as additive. Alternatively, this process can be performed under microwave irradiation. These couplings take place in good yields and with lower catalyst loading than with palladium(II) acetate as well as in shorter reaction times and with lower excess of acrolein diethyl acetal. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.