Gold-Catalyzed Heck Reaction

Herein, we report a gold-catalyzed Heck reaction facilitated by the ligand-enabled Au(I)/Au(III) redox catalysis. The elementary organometallic steps such as migratory insertion and s-hydride elimination have been realized in the catalytic fashion for the first time in gold chemistry. The present methodology not only overcomes the limitations of previously known transition metal-catalyzed Heck reactions such as the requirement of specialized substrates and formation of a mixture of regioisomeric products as a result of the undesirable chain-walking process but also offers complementary regioselectivity as compared to other transition metal catalysis.

Automated summary

In this study, we present a ligand-enabled gold (Au) catalyzed Heck reaction using Au(I)/Au(III) redox catalysis. For the first time in gold chemistry, essential organometallic steps such as migratory insertion and s-hydride elimination have been achieved in a catalytic manner. This methodology not only overcomes the limitations of previous transition metal-catalyzed Heck reactions, such as the need for specialized substrates and the formation of a mixture of regioisomeric products due to undesirable chain-walking, but also provides complementary regioselectivity compared to other transition metal catalysis.