Monomeric cobalt oxazoline palladacycles (COP). Useful catalysts for catalytic asymmetric rearrangement of allylic trichloroacetimidates

Cobalt oxazoline palladacycles (COP) containing acetylacetonate and hexafluoroacetylacetonate ligands were prepared as catalysts for the asymmetric rearrangement of allylic trichloroacetimidates. These monomeric catalysts are more soluble than the previously described chloride-bridged dimer COP-Cl (1). COP-hfacac (2) provides rearranged allylic trichloroacetamides with high enantionteric purities (91-98% ee) in solvents of widely varying polarities: cyclohexane, toluene, 1,2-dichloroethane, ethyl acetate, acetone, acetonitrile, and THF. The first single-crystal X-ray structure of a COP catalyst is also reported.