Aromatic-amide-derived olefins as a springboard: isomerization-initiated palladium-catalyzed hydrogenation of olefins and reductive decarbonylation of acyl chlorides with hydrosilane.

A highly efficient catalytic protocol for the isomerization of substituted amide-derived olefins is presented that successfully uses a hydride palladium catalyst system generated from [PdCl(2)(PPh(3))(2)] and HSi(OEt)(3). The Z to E isomerization was carried out smoothly and resulted in geometrically pure substituted olefins. Apart from the cis-trans isomerization of double bonds, the selective reduction of terminal olefins and activated alkenes was performed with excellent functional group tolerance in the presence of an amide-derived olefin ligand, and the products were obtained in high isolated yields (up to >99 %).

Silicon-based Lewis acid assisted cinchona alkaloid catalysis: highly enantioselective aza-Michael reaction under solvent-free conditions.

The study showed that a combination of an achiral silicon-based Lewis acid and chiral Lewis base, such as iodotrimethylsilane (TMSI) and cinchonine, generated a highly enantioselective catalyst system under solvent-free conditions which gave aromatic β-amino ketones with up to >99% ee. Mechanistic studies demonstrate the enhanced asymmetric induction may be due to the combined and competitive activation of a carbonyl moiety of chalcone with cinchonine and the silicon-based Lewis acid in the aza-Michael reaction.