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Treatment of acetal-tethered (allenylmethyl)silanes, which were obtained from the corresponding 3-bromo-5-silyl-1,3-pentadienes by a Pd-catalyzed reaction with an acetal-tethered malonate, with TiCl(4) gave not only vinylcyclohexene derivatives via a standard S(E)2' pathway but also unusual allenylcyclopentane species via cyclization at the delta-position. Deuterium-labeling experiments revealed participation of a 1,2-hydride shift in a carbocation intermediate for the formation of the latter products.

Palladium-catalyzed reactions of various 2-bromo-3-exo-methylenecycloalkenes with a stabilized nucleophile were examined. When the carbocycles were nine-membered or larger, the corresponding endocyclic allenes were isolated in excellent yields. In a reaction of the eight-membered cyclic substrate, initial formation of a cycloocta-1,2-diene derivative was detected; however, it dimerized slowly. The seven-membered carbocycle was inert to the reaction. Using a chiral Pd-catalyst, an axially chiral endocyclic allene was obtained in 65% ee. The cyclic allenes were applied to [2 + 2]cycloaddition with ketenes, and the stereoselectivity was studied.

Stepwise application of the Pd-catalyzed S(N)2' reaction and the desilylative S(E)2' reaction to the ambivalent 2-bromo-1-silyl-1,3-dienes provides a novel route to the highly enantioselective construction of tertiary and quaternary propargylic stereogenic centers via axially chiral allenylsilanes.

[reaction: see text] Rhodium-catalyzed asymmetric allylic alkylation of 1-substituted 2-propenyl acetates with dimethyl malonate proceeded with high enantioselectivity in the presence of cesium carbonate as a base and a rhodium catalyst generated from Rh(dpm)(C(2)H(4))(2) (dpm = dipivaloylmethanato) and a chiral phosphino-oxazoline whose basic skeleton is axially chiral binaphthyl to give branch alkylation products in greater than 90% ee.