Alkene Alkoxycarbonylation Using Novel Chiral Dipalladium Catalysts

Significance

Catalytic carbonylation reactions of alkenes are of great importance, providing valuable products from readily available starting materials, often on industrial scale. While many enantio-selective hydroformylation reactions are known, alkoxycarbonylations (hydroesterifications) and hydroxycarbonylations are much less common. The authors present an enantioselective hydroxycarbonylation of styrene and norbornene. The use of novel dimeric palladium phosphane precatalysts is crucial for obtaining high reactivity and enantioselectivity.