The ruthenium-catalyzed coupling reactions of benzamides with alkynes in the presence of acetic acid as a promoter smoothly proceeded regio- and stereoselectively through a directed C-H bond cleavage to produce the corresponding ortho-alkenylated products. Phenylpyrazoles and related substrates also underwent a similar coupling to give dialkenylated products selectively. Several competitive experiments were performed to obtain mechanistic insight into both the mono- and dialkenylation reactions.
Cationic Ir(I)-Catalyzed sp<sup>3</sup> C−H Bond Alkenylation of Amides with Alkynes
A cationic Ir(I)-BINAP catalyst cleaved sp(3) C-H bonds of arylamides rather than sp(2) C-H bonds, which was followed by alkenylation with alkynes to give allylamides. Several types of amides and alkynes were suitable as substrates, and the corresponding allylamides were obtained in moderate to good yield. We also demonstrated that carbonyl-directed sp(3) C-H bond cleavage would be an initial step in the present reaction by a deuterium-labeling experiment.