Palladium‐Catalysed Telomerisation of Isoprene with Glycerol and Polyethylene Glycol: A Facile Route to New Terpene Derivatives

We present here the first example of the telomerisation of isoprene with glycerol and polyethylene glycol (PEG-200), opening a facile route to new terpene structures, based on a combination of renewable and petroleum-based feedstocks. The reaction is catalysed by a palladium-carbene complex. Significantly, this system gives >99% of linear monotelomer products. The factors that govern substrate conversion, dimerisation/telomerisation selectivity, and catalyst activity are studied and discussed.