A highly selective and general palladium catalyst for the oxidative Heck reaction of electronically nonbiased olefins.

A general, highly selective oxidative Heck reaction is reported. The reaction is high-yielding under mild conditions without the need for base or high temperatures, and the selectivity is excellent, without the requirement for electronically biased olefins or other specific directing groups. A preliminary mechanistic investigation suggests that the unusually high selectivity may be due to the catalyst's sensitivity to C-H bond strength in the selectivity-determining β-hydride elimination step.