Decarboxylative allylation of arylglyoxylic acids with allyl alcohol

A decarboxylative allylation of arylglyoxylic acids with allyl alcohol has been developed. In the presence of catalytic amounts of Pd(dba)2 and PPh3, the substrates are in an esterification equilibrium with the allyl arylglyoxylates, which are continuously decarboxylated to give α,β-unsaturated ketones along with CO2 and water as the only byproducts.