New Directions in Palladium/Norbornene Cooperative-Renewal

Abstract: We are engaged in the systematic efforts to exploit new, efficient, and broadly useful palladium/norbornene (Pd/NBE) catalysis for site-specific arene/heteroarene vicinal di- functionalization and one-step carbonyl 1,2-transposition. Our objectives in the proposed funding period include first to realize a previously unprecedented ortho oxygenation of aryl halides enabled by a new class of electrophile; second to develop direct vicinal difunctionalization of five- membered heteroarenes via both oxidative and redox-neutral approaches; and third to enable a one-step carbonyl 1,2-transposition reaction. The proposed research is expected to identify new synthetic methods and efficient catalyst systems, which should provide general and distinct approaches to access poly-substituted arenes and heterocycles commonly found in pharmaceuticals or to efficiently relocate carbonyl groups in complex molecules for generating novel “functional group-shifted” analogues.