Palladium‐Catalyzed C−H Arylation of Aliphatic and Aromatic Ketones using Dipeptide Transient Directing Groups

Ketones are ubiquitous structural motifs in chemical materials and medicinally active pharmaceutical ingredients. Transition metal-catalyzed C-H bond functionalization is one of the most efficient tactics for diversification of ketones. Palladium-catalyzed C-H arylation of aliphatic and aromatic ketones has been achieved utilizing an inexpensive dipeptide as a transient directing group. The tridentate coordination used in this reaction enhances the reactivity of the substrates and allows reduction of the loading of the directing group compounds to 20%. This approach allows rapid arylation of complex natural products, medicinal-chemistry-related scaffolds, and even remote C(sp(2))-H bonds.