Palladium-Promoted Transformation of β-Amino Ketones to Enaminones

The reaction of β-amino ketones with bis(acetonitrile)dichloropalladium(II) in the presence of triethylamine gives the corresponding enaminones regioselectively. The cyclic β-amino ketones can be converted into the corresponding exocyclic enaminones. The enaminones thus obtained are versatile synthetic intermediates. The reaction of (E)-enaminones with organocuprates gave the corresponding (E)-α,β-unsaturated ketones.