A General Synthesis of Cross-Conjugated Enynones through Pd Catalyzed Sonogashira Coupling with Triazine Esters

The palladium-catalyzed Sonogashira coupling of alpha, beta-unsaturated acid derivatives offers a diversity-oriented synthetic strategy for cross-conjugated enynones. However, the susceptibility of the unsaturated C-C bonds adjacent to the carbonyl group toward Pd catalysts makes the direct conversion of alpha, beta-unsaturated derivatives as acyl electrophiles to cross-conjugated ketones rare. This work presents a highly selective C-O activation approach to prepare cross-conjugated enynones using alpha, beta-unsaturated triazine esters as acyl electrophiles. Under base and phosphine ligand-free conditions, NHC-Pd(II)-Allyl precatalyst alone catalyzed the cross-coupling of alpha, beta-unsaturated triazine esters with terminal alkynes efficiently, yielding 31 cross-conjugated enynones with diverse functional groups. This method demonstrates the potential of triazine-mediated C-O activation for preparing highly functionalized ketones.