Palladium-Catalyzed Heck-type Domino Cyclization and Carboxylation to Synthesize Carboxylic Acids by Utilizing Chloroform as the Carbon Monoxide Source.

A palladium-catalyzed domino cyclization and carboxylation reaction for synthesis of a variety of carboxylic acids was developed, where chloroform was used as "carbon monoxide" source. The in situ generated neopentylpalladium species by Heck cyclization was efficiently trapped by dichlorocarbene to form a series of carboxylic acids. It was found that in this type of domino reaction CHCl3 is a convenient and safe alternation for CO gas.