Palladium-catalyzed allylation of aryl halides with homoallyl alcohols bearing a trisubstituted double bond: application to chirality transfer from hydroxylated carbon to benzylic one.

A facile route to homoallyl alcohols bearing a trisubstituted double bond has been devised. The palladium-catalyzed reactions of aryl halides with the alcohols thus synthesized result in regiospecific allyl transfer from the alcohols to aryl halides via retro-allylation, providing allylarenes having two substituents at the 1 and 2 positions of the allyl moiety. Optically active homoallyl alcohols transfer their chirality at the hydroxylated carbon to the benzylic carbon of the product.