Palladium-catalyzed aerobic oxidation of terminal olefins with electron-withdrawing groups in scCO2

Product control of palladium-catalyzed aerobic oxidation of terminal olefins with electron-withdrawing groups can be achieved through modifying reaction conditions. When the oxidant, such as CuCl2/O2, benzoquinone/O2 or O2, was present in scCO2, aerobic oxidation of terminal olefins goes smoothly. With enough MeOH and sufficient oxygen, acetalization preponderated over cyclotrimerization, while with little MeOH as co-solvent in scCO2 or no MeOH in DMF and an appropriate pressure of O2, cyclotrimerization of terminal olefins became the dominated reaction. When oxygen is absent and triethylamine was added into the reaction system, palladium-catalyzed C–N bond formation occurs to produce β-amino acid derivatives as the sole product.