Palladium-Catalyzed Regiocontrollable Reductive Heck Reaction of Unactivated Aliphatic Alkenes

A general Pd-catalyzed intermolecular
reductive Heck reaction of
both terminal and internal unactivated aliphatic alkenes has been
first developed. This method affords γ- and δ-arylated
alkyl carboxylic acid derivatives in high yields with complete anti-Markovnikov selectivity. Notably, the coupling process
is stereoretentive for the alkyl chain. Mechanistically, alkyl palladacycle
intermediates stabilized by directing group and ligand, hydride species
multigenerated from PS/TFA reductant, are two key factors that successfully
promote the reaction and regioselectivity.