Synthesis of Unsaturated Seven-Membered Ring Lactams through Palladium-Catalyzed Amination and Intramolecular Cyclocarbonylation Reactions of Amines and Baylis−Hillman Acetates

A versatile synthesis of unsaturated seven-membered ring lactams has been developed. The sequence involves hydroamination of Baylis-Hillman acetate with amines, followed by intramolecular cyclocarbonylation reactions of the resulting allylamines. This process can tolerate a wide array of functional groups, and affords lactams in excellent yields.