Construction of Tertiary Chiral Centers by Pd-Catalyzed Asymmetric Allylic Alkylation of Prochiral Enolate Equivalents.

The palladium-catalyzed decarboxylative allylic alkylation of enol carbonates derived from lactams and ketones is described. Employing these substrates with an electronically tuned Pd catalyst system trisubstituted chiral centers are produced. These stereocenters have been previously challenging to achieve using Pd complex/chiral P–N ligand systems.