Ruthenium-catalyzed site-selective C-H allylation of aryl ketones using Morita-Baylis-Hillman alcohols: access to α-benzyl acrylates

Key Points

• This research aims to develop a ruthenium-catalyzed method for site-selective C-H allylation of aryl ketones.
• Utilized ruthenium as a catalyst for C–H allylation
• Applied Morita-Baylis-Hillman alcohols as reagents
• Explored substrate scope and functional group tolerance
• Successfully synthesized α-benzyl acrylates from aryl ketones
• Demonstrated high selectivity in C-H bond activation
• Showed effective late-stage diversification to substituted indanes