A simple and efficient method for the allylation of heteroarenes catalyzed by PdCl2

The PdCl2-catalyzed allylation of heteroarenes is presented. Various heteroarenes including O-, N-, and S-based ones were allylated efficiently with a rich range of allylic acetates in the presence of only 2 mol % of PdCl2, without the need of bases/acids, additives, and external supporting ligands. In addition, the reactions were carried out under mild and simple conditions just by stirring the two reactants and catalyst in CH2Cl2 at 60 degrees C. Moreover, the by-product produced was non-toxic acetic acid. Thus, the method presented in this work provides a general, clean, and operationally simple approach for the functionalization of heteroarenes. Finally, a preliminary mechanistic study suggested that the Pd(II) may be reduced in situ by the heteroarenes to Pd(0), which serves as the active metal center to catalyze the following allylations of heteroarenes via a Tsuji Trost pathway. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.