Microwave-mediated palladium-catalyzed asymmetric allylic alkylation; an example of highly selective fast chemistry

Highly enantioselective palladium-catalyzed microwave-mediated fast chemistry has been performed on dimethyl malonate alkylation of (rac)-1,3-diphenylallyl-1-acetate (1). Utilizing the recently developed palladium–phosphineoxazoline catalytic system, with general stability at elevated temperatures (≤145°C), quantitative yields of ≥97% and ee values of up to >99% were obtained after very short irradiation times (15–300 s, TOF up to 7000 h−1).