A survey of sulfide ligands for allylic C-H oxidations of terminal olefins.

Perfect to a THT! Screening a diverse library of thioether ligands led to the discovery of tetrahydrothiophene (THT) as a highly reactive and selective ligand for Pd-catalyzed allylic CH oxidation reactions. This novel ligand system provides some of the highest reported yields for the formation of (E)-linear allylic acetates through allylic CH activation chemistry (BQ = 1,4-benzoquinone).