Origins of Stereospecificity and Divergent Reactivity of Pd-Catalyzed Cross Coupling with α,α-Disubstituted Alkenyl Hydrazones.

This article presents an exploration of stereospecificity and divergent reactivity of Pd-catalyzed α,α-disubstituted alkenyl hydrazones to synthesize 1,4-dienes in the configuration and vinylcyclopropane. We calculated the energy profiles of four α,α-disubstituted alkenyl hydrazones. The results show that the energy profiles of the whole catalytic cycle are basically the same before the -carbopalladation step. Subsequent -β-C elimination yields skipping dienes, or direct β-H elimination yields vinylcyclopropane. Current theoretical calculations reveal that the stereospecificity and the divergent reactivity of reactions result from the competition between -β-C elimination and β-H elimination. The C-C bond rotation and subsequent -β-C elimination step control the stereospecificity of the reaction by changing the olefin stereostructure from to configuration. The steric factor of α-substituted groups mediates the transformation between -β-C elimination and β-H elimination. The results are of great significance for the scientific design of substrates to achieve accurate synthesis of target products.