Herein, we show the conversion of alkenes into functionalized 1,3-dienes in two steps. First, C-H thianthrenation is used to access a wide pool of alkenyl electrophiles directly from alkenes. Second, the alkenyl thianthrenium salts undergo a Pd-catalyzed three-component coupling reaction with allene gas and nonorganometallic nucleophiles to afford 1,3-dienes. This method provides a robust and modular platform for accessing structurally complex 1,3-dienes that would be challenging to access otherwise.
Müller et al. (Wed,) studied this question.