A novel copper-catalyzed intermolecular trifluoromethylazidation of alkenes has been developed under mild reaction conditions. A variety of CF3 -containing organoazides were directly synthesized from a wide range of olefins, including activated and unactivated alkenes, and the resulting products can be easily transformed into the corresponding CF3 -containing amine derivatives.

1,2-Dicarbofunctionalization of alkenes has emerged as an efficient synthetic strategy for preparing substituted molecules by coupling readily available alkenes with electrophiles and/or nucleophiles. Nickel complexes serve as effective catalysts owing to their tendency to undergo facile oxidative addition and slow β-hydride elimination, and their capability to access both two-electron and radical pathways. Two-component alkene functionalization reactions have achieved high chemo-, regio-, and stereoselectivities by tethering one of the coupling partners to the alkene substrate. Three-component reactions, however, often incorporate directing groups to control the selectivity. Only a few examples of directing-group-free difunctionalizations of unactivated alkenes have been reported. Therefore, great opportunities exist for the development of three-component difunctionalization reactions with broad substrate scopes and tunable chemo-, regio-, and stereoselectivities.

A novel asymmetric 6-endo aminoacetoxylation of unactivated alkenes by palladium catalysis, which yields chiral β-acetoxylated piperidines with excellent chemo-, regio- and enantioselectivities under very mild reaction conditions, has been established herein by employing a new designed pyridine-oxazoline (Pyox) ligand. Importantly, introducing a sterically bulky group into the C-6 position of Pyox is crucial to enhance the reactivity of the aminoacetoxylation of alkenes.