Nickel‐Catalyzed Switchable Site‐Selective Alkene Hydroalkylation by Temperature Regulation**
Jia‐Wang Wang, Deguang Liu, Zhe Chang, Zhen Li, Yao Fu, Xi Lu
Abstract
Regiodivergent alkene functionalization that produces either regioisomer starting from the same raw materials is desirable. Herein, we report a nickel-catalyzed switchable site-selective alkene hydroalkylation. The selection of reaction temperatures leads to protocols that provide regiodivergent hydroalkylated products starting from a single alkene substrate. This protocol allows the convenient synthesis of α- and β-branched protected amines, both of which are important to the fields of pharmaceutical chemistry and biochemistry. In addition, enantioenriched β-branched alkylamines can be accessed in a catalytic asymmetric variant. Preliminary mechanistic studies indicate that the formation of a more stable nickelacycle provides the driving force of migration. The thermodynamic and kinetic properties of different reduction elimination intermediates are responsible for the switchable site-selectivity.