Research news, Jan. 5th, 2015
Pd-catalyzed Cyclodimerization of Alkenyl and Aryl Dibromides: Construction of Dibenzo[a,e]cyclooctatetraenes
Kunbing Ouyang and Zhenfeng Xi*
Chin. J. Cat. 2015, 36, 24-32.
(Special Issue on Catalysis in Organic Synthesis)
Cyclooctatetraenes including dibenzocyclooctatetraenes are structurally interesting compounds and are widely used in many areas. Therefore, the development of synthetic methods for such compounds has long been attractive. In this work, a Pd-catalyzed coupling reaction between alkenylbromides and arylbromides has been realized. Multi-substituted 1,4-dibromo-1,3-butadienes and o-bromo-2-(2-bromovinyl)benzenes underwent the Pd-catalyzed cyclodimerization reaction to afford their corresponding multi-substituted cyclooctatetraenes and dibenzo[a,e]cyclooctatetraenes, respectively, in high yields and with excellent selectivity.
