N-Acylsaccharins as Amide-Based Arylating Reagents via Chemoselective N-C Cleavage: Pd-Catalyzed Decarbonylative Heck Reaction.

Palladium-catalyzed decarbonylative Heck reaction of amides by chemoselective N-C activation using N-acylsaccharins as coupling partners has been accomplished. These studies represent only the second example of amide-Heck reactions reported to date. A broad range of electronically diverse amide and olefin coupling partners is amenable to this transformation. Orthogonal site-selective Heck cross-couplings by C-Br/N-C cleavage and mechanistic studies are reported. This report introduces readily available, bench-stable, cheap, and benign N-acylsaccharins as aryl transfer reagents to access versatile aryl-metal intermediates.