The Development and Application of the a-Alkenylation of Enolates and Related Multicomponent Reactions

The improvement and discovery of new chemical reactions can provide a way to more rapidly access fine chemicals. These reactions are especially desirable if they can be conducted catalytically and/or in a multicomponent fashion. Herein, different reactions based on transition metal-catalyzed a-alkenylation of enolate couplings were developed utilizing either two- or three-components. Both a Pd- and a Ni-catalyzed a-alkenylation procedures that operate under mild conditions were established. The Pd-catalyzed procedure was used as a platform to develop new multicomponent reactions to rapidly access complex molecules from readily available starting materials.The developed reactions were then applied to synthesize potential therapeutics for the treatment of Niemann-Pick Type C disease and towards the synthesis of a fluorescent cholesterol mimic.