Dendritic oxazoline ligands in enantioselective palladium-catalyzed allylic alkylations.

First to fourth generation dendritic substituents based on 2,2-bis(hydroxymethyl)propionic acid and (1R,2S,5R)-menthoxyacetic acid were attached to 2-(hydroxymethyl)pyridinooxazoline and bis[4-(hydroxymethyl)oxazoline] compounds. The new ligands obtained were assessed in palladium-catalyzed allylic alkylations. The first type of ligands exhibited enantioselectivity similar to that of a benzoyl ester derivative, whereas the latter type of ligands afforded products with higher selectivity than the analogous benzoyl ester. The activity of the dendritic catalysts decreased with increasing generation.