Ligand-controlled divergent dehydrogenative reactions of carboxylic acids via C–H activation

Abstract

Desaturating acids Molecular motifs with neighboring C=C and C=O double bonds are central to the synthesis of fine chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and polymers. Wang et al . report a versatile palladium-catalyzed reaction to produce this motif from carboxylic acids by oxidation of the adjacent carbons, with molecular oxygen as a viable terminal oxidant (see the Perspective by Iwabuchi). The method relies on fine-tuned ligand geometry and complements approaches constrained by their reliance on enolate chemistry. Swapping in an alternate ligand promotes extension of the desaturation to coupling with terminal alkynes. —JSY