Electrophilic Trapping of Zirconium Enolates Obtained by Copper-Catalyzed Addition of In Situ Generated Organozirconium Reagents

Building complex structures from simple starting materials is important for effective organic synthesis. In this context, domino reactions comprising hydrozirconation of alkenes, their subsequent utilization in a copper-catalyzed conjugate addition to enones, followed by electrophilic trapping of the formed zirconium enolates with activated alkene and carbocations are described. Reactivity of metal enolates was studied by DFT calculations.