Palladium nanoparticles: Chemoselective control for reductive Heck with aryl triflates and 2,3-dihydrofuran

The reductive-Heck reaction offers a unique entry to formal Csp(2)-Csp(3) cross-coupling reactions that proceed in the absence of a main group organometallic coupling partner. Consequently, further development of new variants would be transformative. Unfortunately, controlling the relative rates of the organopalladium intermediates has proven difficult with homogenous, single-site Pd catalysts. This work describes a selective reductive Heck reaction catalyzed by Pd-nanoparticles. The reaction works well with electron-deficient aryl triflates at room temperature in the absence of ligands. This work addresses some of the challenges found in the reductive-Heck literature. (C) 2018 Published by Elsevier Ltd.