CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Palladium-catalyzed allylic substitution reactions are among the most efficient methods to construct CC bonds between sp3-hybridized carbon atoms. In contrast, much less work has been done with nickel catalysts, perhaps because of the different mechanisms of the allylic substitution reactions.Palladium catalysts generally undergo substitution by a ?soft?- nucleophile pathway, wherein the nucleophile attacks the allyl group externally. Nickel catalysts are usually paired with ?hard? nucleophiles, which attack the metal before CC bond formation. Introduced herein is a rare nickel-based catalyst which promotes substitution with diarylmethane pronucleophiles by the soft-nucleophile pathway. Preliminary studies on the asymmetric allylic alkylation are promising.