Palladium-Catalyzed β-Arylation of α-Keto Esters.

A catalyst system derived from commercially available Pd2(dba)3 and PtBu3 has been applied to the coupling of α-keto ester enolates and aryl bromides. The reaction provides access to an array of β-stereogenic α-keto esters. When the air-stable ligand precursor PtBu3·HBF4 is employed, the reaction can be carried out without use of a glovebox. The derived products are of broad interest given the prevalence of the α-keto acid substructure in biologically important molecules.