Decarboxylative Coupling of Ketoacids with Allylic Acetates

Org Lett. 2024 Dec 20;26(50):10696-10701. doi: 10.1021/acs.orglett.4c03514. Epub 2024 Dec 9.

Abstract

We developed a novel, metal-free catalytic system for synthesizing a broad range of itaconates using α-ketoacids and allylic acetate. This method, leveraging phosphine and Mes-Acr+(BF4-) catalysts, has proven versatile, enabling the efficient itaconation of peptides, the synthesis of bioactive itaconates, and the preparation of an itaconate-based bio-orthogonal probe.