Heck-type arylation of 2-cycloalken-1-ones with arylpalladium intermediates formed by decarboxylative palladation and by aryl iodide insertion.

[reaction: see text] A palladium-catalyzed decarboxylative arylation reaction was shown to produce Heck-type coupling products using a number of different arene carboxylic acid and 2-cycloalken-1-one substrates. The more conventional Heck coupling of an aryl iodide and a 2-cycloalken-1-one reactant was also briefly explored for comparison, where it was found that phosphine-free (Jeffery) conditions afforded the highest yield of product.