Highly regiocontrolled Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction of terminal alkynes and allenylphosphine oxides.

The cross-coupling of a variety of terminal alkynes 1 with allenylphosphine oxides 2 catalyzed by a Pd(OAc)(2)-TDMPP system provided conjugated endo-enynes 3 solely, while the TCPC-catalyzed reaction of the same regents led to the exclusive formation of exo-isomers 4. The mechanistic rationale for these selective transformations was proposed. Synthetic usefulness of the prepared exo-enyne 4 was demonstrated in the synthesis of multisubstituted diarylbenzylphosphine oxides 5 via the Pd-catalyzed [4+2]-benzannulation reaction.