Rapid decarboxylative allylation of nitroalkanes

Abstract

Allyl nitroacetates undergo decarboxylative allylation to provide tertiary nitroalkanes in high yield. Moreover, the transformations are complete within several minutes under ambient conditions. High yields result because O-allylation of the intermediate nitronates, which is typically problematic, is reversible under conditions of the decarboxylative allylation process. Lastly, the preparation of substrate allyl nitroacetates by tandem Knoevenagel/Diels-Alder sequences allows the facile synthesis of relatively complex substrates that undergo diastereoselective decarboxylative allylation.