Palladium(II)-catalyzed ortho-olefination of arenes applying sulfoxides as remote directing groups.

A novel palladium-catalyzed ortho-C(sp(2))-H olefination protocol has been developed by the use of sulfoxide as the directing group. Importantly, relatively remote coordination can be accessed to achieve the ortho olefination of benzyl, 2-arylethyl, and 3-arylpropenyl sulfoxide substrates, and the olefinated sulfoxide can be easily transformed to other functionalities.