A consecutive inter- and intra
molecular hydroa
mination of cycloheptatriene with pri
mary aro
matic a
mines, benzylic a
mines, and
mages/gifchars/beta2.gif" BORDER=0 ALIGN="
middle">-phenethyla
mines occurs to produce phar
maceutically relevant tropene (8-azabicyclo[3.2.1]octene) fra
meworks in good to excellent yields. This reaction occurs in the presence of a catalyst generated fro
m palladiu
m trifluoroacetate, 9,9-di
methyl-4,5-bis(diphenylphosphino)xanthene and a
mild acid. Mechanistic studies reveal that the overall process has so
me reversible steps, but that the rate of these reverse reactions are far slower than the rates of the forward catalytic process.