Selective Direct Heterocoupling of Alkenes Catalyzed by in Situ Generated Ruthenium Complexes

Abstract

We describe a ruthenium-based catalytic system that allows the codimerization of cyclic alkenes and Michael acceptors. High yields and excellent stereoselectivities toward the exo-(E) adducts are obtained on a wide range of substrates with various functional groups. In addition, running the reaction in protic media leads to the reduced product resulting from the tandem codimerization/reduction sequence.