Recent advances in the ruthenium-catalyzed hydroarylation of alkynes with aromatics: synthesis of trisubstituted alkenes

The hydroarylation of alkynes with substituted aromatics in the presence of a metal catalyst via chelation-assisted C-H bond activation is a powerful method to synthesize trisubstituted alkenes. Chelation-assisted C-H bond activation can be done by two ways: (a) an oxidative addition pathway and (b) a deprotonation pathway. Generally, a mixture of cis and trans stereoisomeric as well as regioisomeric trisubstituted alkenes was observed in an oxidative addition pathway. In the deprotonation pathway, the hydroarylation reaction can be done in a highly regio- and stereoselective manner, and enables preparation of the expected trisubstituted alkenes in a highly selective manner. Generally, ruthenium, rhodium and cobalt complexes are used as catalysts in the reaction. In this review, a ruthenium-catalyzed hydroarylation of alkynes with substituted aromatics is covered completely. The hydroarylation reaction of alkynes with amide, azole, carbamate, phosphine oxide, amine, acetyl, sulfoxide and sulphur directed aromatics is discussed.