Palladium-Catalyzed Allylation of Aryl Halides with Homoallyl Alcohols Bearing a Trisubstituted Double Bond: Application to Chirality Transfer from Hydroxylated Carbon to Benzylic One

A facile route to homoallyl alcohols bearing a trisubstituted double bond has been devised. The palladium-catalyzed reactions of aryl halides with the alcohols thus synthesized result in regiospecific allyl transfer from the alcohols to aryl halides via retro-allylation, providing allylarenes having two substituents at the 1 and 2 positions of the allyl moiety. Optically active homoallyl alcohols transfer their chirality at the hydroxylated carbon to the benzylic carbon of the product.