Dehydrogenation Adjacent to Carbonyls Using Palladium-Allyl Intermediates

Palladium-allyl chemistry has historically been used as a means of allylation of nucleophiles, as developed by Tsuji and Trost in the 1970s. Also during this decade, the Saegusa oxidation, the most prominent palladium-catalyzed dehydrogenation reaction, was developed. This Synpacts article provides a historical overview of dehydrogenation adjacent to carbonyls and our recent contribution to this area: palladium-allyl catalyzed dehydrogenation of nitriles and esters.