Mechanistic Implications of the Observation of Kinetic Resolution in a Palladium-Catalyzed Enantioselective Allylic Alkylation.

Preferential rotation in substrate-palladium intermediates in a catalyzed asymmetric allylic alkylation is proposed to be responsible for both the observed kinetic resolution of the racemic allylic acetate starting material as well as the high selectivity found in the enantiodiscriminating product-forming step [Eq. (a)].