Palladium catalyzed oxidative aminations and oxylations: where are we?

Selective product formation in the Pd-catalyzed cyclization of unsaturated amide and carboxylic acid derivatives is an intriguing and challenging task. We recently discovered that the oxidative intramolecular Pd(II)-catalyzed amination or oxylation of unsaturated N-sulfonyl carbamates, N-sulfonyl carboxamides and carboxylic acids takes place through the involvement of cyclic (usually, 5- or 6-membered) aminopalladated (AmPIs) or oxypalladated (OxPI) intermediates. Such cyclic intermediates can undergo a variety of transformations such as distocyclic β-H elimination, oxidative acetoxylation or intramolecular carbopalladation, depending upon the substrate and/or the reaction conditions. In the absence of appropriate reaction pathways, the cyclic nucleopalladated intermediates (NuPIs) simply engage in an inconsequential equilibrium with the initial substrate and other transformations occur such as allylic C–H activation or, in the particular case of allyl carbamates, [3,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement.