Palladium/phosphite-catalyzed 1,4-addition of arylboronic acids to acrylic acid derivatives.

1,4-Addition of arylboronic acids to acrylic acid derivatives proceeds efficiently in the presence of a palladium catalyst system of Pd(OAc)2/(PhO)3P to produce the corresponding 3-arylpropionic acid derivatives. The use of the phosphite ligand is the key to conducting the addition smoothly with suppressing the competing Mizoroki-Heck-type oxidative coupling.