Azetidines as ligands in the Pd(II) complexes series

The preparation of palladium (II) complexes having sterically congested azetidines as ligands is described. Diastereomerically pure α-alkylamino and α-alkylimino azetidines react with Na2PdCl4 to afford the corresponding bidendate Pd(II) complexes, whereas 2-cyano azetidines can be used to access bidendate Pd(II) complexes containing an amino-imidate moiety. Preliminary study of the catalytic activity of these new complexes in the Suzuki cross-coupling reaction is presented.