Phosphine-free palladium catalyzed Mizoroki-Heck reaction using hydrazone as a ligand.

Glyoxal bishydrazones 1 and pyridyl-hydrazone 2b were prepared and examined as a ligand for the Mizoroki-Heck cross-coupling reaction of aryl halides and olefin. We found that PdCl2(MeCN)2/hydrazone ligand 1e was a phosphine-free efficient catalyst system for a variety of substrates to produce the Mizoroki-Heck coupling products in good yields.