The mechanism for palladium catalyzed carbonylation of cinnamyl chloride

In the palladium catalyzed alkoxycarbonylation of cinnamyl chloride two mechanisms play a role. An associative mechanism was observed at low pressure, while an insertion mechanism was observed at high pressure or when an excess of ligand was used. Several putative intermediates of the catalytic alkoxycarbonylation have been synthesized and characterized, such as 5c of which an X-ray crystal structure was obtained.