Palladium-Catalyzed Divergent Cyclopropanation by Regioselective Solvent-Driven C(sp(3))-H Bond Activation

Abstract

Reported is a tandem palladium-catalyzed Heck/regioselective C(sp(3))-H activation reaction for the divergent synthesis of spiro- and fused-cyclopropanated indolines from N-methallylated 2-bromoarylamides. The regioselectivity of the C-H bond activation in the s-alkylPdII intermediate is controlled by the solvent used. DFT calculations suggest that the polarity of solvent molecules could influence the transition-state energy, leading to a bifurcation of the C-H bond activation in the s-alkylPdII intermediate.