Straightforward and Regioselective Access to Unsaturated α‐Benzyl Butyrolactones

Abstract

The efficient preparation of various substituted α‐benzyl unsaturated butyrolactones is described. The palladium‐mediated C–C bond formation that uses α‐bromomethylbutenolide and boron derivatives as coupling partners accounts for the key step of this synthetic approach. Our strategy exclusively affords the endocyclic adduct and represents an alternative to Heck‐type reactions. The synthesis and characterization of two nostoclide analogues has also been reported.