Ruthenium- and rhodium-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction of acrylamides with alkenes: efficient access to (Z,E)-dienamides.

Ruthenium- and rhodium-catalyzed direct oxidative cross-coupling reactions of acrylamides with alkenes were developed. These methods provide an efficient route for the synthesis of (Z,E)-dienamides in excellent yields with good stereoselectivity. The catalytic systems allowed oxidative olefination of a wide range of alkenes bearing different functional groups, such as CO(2)R, COMe, SO(2)Ph, aryl, CONHBn, CN, PO(OEt)(2), as well as Weinreb amide.