Palladium-catalyzed allylic etherification of phenols with vinyl ethylene carbonate.

The palladium-catalyzed decarboxylative reactions of phenols and vinyl ethylene carbonate to produce allylic aryl ethers under mild conditions have been established. Adopting an inexpensive PdCl(dppf) catalyst promotes the efficient conversion of phenols to the corresponding allylic aryl ethers the formation of a new C-O bond in good isolated yields with complete regioselectivities, acceptable functional group tolerance and operational simplicity. The robust procedure could be completed smoothly by conducting a scaled-up reaction with comparable efficiency to afford the target product.