Ligand-Controlled Regiodivergent Palladium-Catalyzed Hydrogermylation of Ynamides
Vincent Debrauwer, Aneta Turlik, Lénaïc Rummler, Alessandro Prescimone, Nicolas Blanchard, K. N. Houk, Vincent Bizet
Abstract
Ynamides are fascinating small molecules with complementary reactivities under radical, ionic, and metal-catalyzed conditions. We report herein synthetic and DFT investigations of palladium-catalyzed ligand-controlled regiodivergent hydrometalation reactions of ynamides. Germylated and stannylated enamides are obtained with excellent α,E- or β,E-selectivities and a broad functional group tolerance. Such a regiodivergent palladium-catalyzed process is unique in ynamide chemistry and allows for the elaboration of metalated enamides that are useful building blocks for cross-coupling reactions or heterocyclic chemistry. DFT calculations fully support the experimental data and demonstrate the crucial roles of the trans-geometry of the [H-Pd(L)-Ge] complex, as well as of the steric requirements of the phosphine ligand. In addition, these calculations support the prevalence of a hydro-palladation pathway over a metal palladation of the π system of the ynamide.