The development of a decarboxylative palladium-catalyzed coupling of 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds with indole, pyrrole, imidazole, and pyrazole nucleophiles via an allylic linker under neutral conditions is disclosed. This process enables the installation of an all-carbon quaternary center and new C-C and C-N bonds in a single operation. Despite the weakly acidic nature of N-heterocycles, the reactions proceed with good efficiency and complete regio- and chemoselectivity.

This article describes the palladium-catalysed three-component coupling of 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds with nucleophiles and propargylic electrophiles for the generation of quaternary all-carbon centres in a single step, which necessitates the simultaneous control of regio-, chemo- and enantioselectivity. The use of propargyl enol carbonates, the source of two of the components, was found to be essential in maintaining high levels of regiocontrol and chemoselectivity, whereas a careful analysis of pK a trends of O-, C- and N-nucleophiles as the other coupling partner indicates that the highest levels of selectivity are likely to be obtained with relatively acidic species, such as phenols, 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds and aromatic N-heterocycles. Finally, studies towards the development of the catalytic enantioselective construction of quaternary all-carbon centres by means of alkenylation and allylic alkylation are disclosed.

The reaction has a broad substrate scope, thus tolerating a variety of cyclic and acyclic 1,3‐dicarbonyl derivatives and a range of indole, pyrrole, imidazole, and pyrazole substrates, but no saturated cyclic amines.