An Efficient Generation of a Functionalized Tertiary-Alkyl Radical for Copper-catalyzed Tertiary-Alkylative Mizoroki-Heck type Reaction

alpha-Halocarbonyl compounds undergo beta-hydrogen elimination to give conjugated olefins in the presence of a transition-metal catalyst. However, a copper/triamine catalyst system can induce the alkylative Mizoroki-Heck reaction of styrenes with tertiary-alkyl halides possessing a withdrawing group under very mild conditions. This reaction provides an efficient synthetic methodology for tertiary-alkylated styrenes.