2024

Pihko, Petri M.; Laasonen, Kari; Bruce, Veera Karoliina; Rolig, Aino; Farshadfar, Kaveh

After optimization for retention of catalytic activity, 4-chlorobenzoic acid emerged as the optimal catalyst for the aliphatic ketone Claisen rearrangement. The optimal catalyst enables a one-pot, metal-free, catalytic protocol from allylic alcohols to γ,δ-unsaturated ketones. The optimized process tolerates a range of substrates, including substituents with acid-labile protecting groups. Reaction monitoring and DFT studies of the aliphatic ketone Claisen process agree that the ultimate rearrangement step typically has the highest activation barrier.