Synthesis of α,β-unsaturated ketones by rhodium-catalyzed carbonylative arylation of internal alkynes with arylboronic acids

Abstract

α,β-Unsaturated ketones are important key reagents in organic synthesis. They are commonly synthesised through an aldol condensation reaction.Since Hayashi et al. reported the first Rh-catalyzed addition of aryl- and alkenylboronic acids to α,β-unsaturated ketones, the Rh-catalyzed addition of organoboron reagents to various unsaturated systems has become increasingly popular as a method of constructing C.C bonds. Organoboron reagents readily undergo transmetalation with Rh to form arylrhodium(I) species that are capable of inducing the nucleophilic arylation of various electrophilic sites (Sakai, et al. 1997, Hayashi and Yamasaki 2003). In this work, we have succesfully performed another example of the Rhcatalyzed reaction of arylboronic acids: a reaction of arylboronic acids with alkynes under a CO atmosphere to yield α,β-unsaturated ketones (Kuş, et al. 2008). As a consequence, the methodology established in this study proposes arelatively mild and simple way for the synthesis of α,β-unsaturated ketones.