Treatment of 1,6‐azaeneyne compounds with Ph3SnH resulted in the stereoselective formation of 5‐(E)‐alkylidene‐2,3‐cis‐piperidine in moderate to good yields. Intermediate products including methylenepyrrolidine and stannomethylene pyrrolidine were also detected in the reaction mixture, suggesting that the reaction progressed via a highly cumulated radical cascade process involving sequential six radical processes, i.e. radical addition, 5‐exo cyclization, substitution (1,4‐tin migration), 3‐exo cyclization, ring cleavage of cycloprolane, and hydrogen abstraction from Ph3SnH. The product distribution depended on the lower Ph3SnH concentration, resulting in higher piperidine yields. The E/Z selectivity of the exo‐methylene unit was also sensitive to the reaction temperature. The vinylic triphenyltin group was converted into hydrogen and iodine. A kinetic analysis of the reaction indicated that the 1,4‐tin migration and ring expansion progressed as irreversible reactions and that their reaction rates were large enough to progress the cascade reaction smoothly and to prevent side reactions such as hydrogen abstraction from Ph3SnH.

A regioselective double Stille coupling reaction was explored using bicyclic stannolanes that were easily prepared from the radical cascade reaction of β-amino-α-methylene esters. Various 1-bromo-2-iodoarenes underwent the double coupling reaction to afford benzoisoindole derivatives in a regioselective manner, where the carbon attached to the iodine selectively coupled with the vinylic carbon, and then the carbon attached to bromine coupled with the alkyl carbon. The combination of intra- and intermolecular coupling reactions provided hexahydroindeno[1,2-b]pyrrole derivatives in good yields. The yields were further improved in the presence of excess amounts of CsF. An attempt to identify the reaction intermediate was made wherein the decomposition of the stannolanes with aqueous HCl and HBr afforded trigonal bipyramidal (TBP) pentacoordinated tin complexes, as confirmed by microanalyses and (119)Sn NMR. Using DCl for the decomposition selectively introduced a deuterium to the E-position of the exomethylene unit. The complexes smoothly underwent the intramolecular Stille coupling reaction in the presence of both a palladium catalyst and DABCO, affording hexahydroindeno[1,2-b]pyrroles in good yields. These results suggest that the double coupling reaction progresses through a TBP tin complex, promoting the second intramolecular coupling reaction between the aryl halide and Csp(3)-tin bond.