Synergistic silver-mediated and palladium-catalyzed nondirected olefination of aryl C–H bond: quick access to multi-substituted aryl olefins

Transition metal-catalyzed olefination of aryl C–H bond is a powerful tool for the synthesis of alkenes. While the Pd-catalyzed oxidative C–H olefination of arenes, also known as Fujiwara-Moritani reaction, has been established as one of the most efficient methods, the substrates are largely limited to terminal olefins with electron-withdrawing group(s). Herein, we report a synergistic silver-mediated and palladium-catalyzed non-directed C–H olefination of arenes with vinyl (pseudo)halides, which offers a complementary strategy to the typical Fujiwara-Moritani reaction. The reactions proceeded well for a variety of halogenated arenes, heteroarenes, and olefin substrates, providing an efficient access to various multi-substituted aryl olefins, including trisubstituted/tetrasubstituted olefins and several complex olefins derived from medicines or natural products. Mechanistic studies indicated a bimetallic Pd/Ag cooperation is operative in the catalysis, i.e., the reaction is initiated by aryl C–H bond cleavage via ligation with phosphine/Ag species, followed by transferring of the aryl moiety to a vinyl palladium intermediate, which is in turn formed by oxidative addition of vinyl (pseudo)halide to a Pd complex. This method enables the synthesis of a wide range of challenging multi-substituted vinyl products from simple arenes (directing-group free) in a streamlined and controllable fashion.