Selective Coupling of Non-Activated Olefins with Ethyl Cyanoacetate by Mn3+-Mediated Anodic Oxidation

Novel carbon-carbon bond formation of non-activated olefins with ethyl cyanoacetate has been developed by anodic oxidation using only a small amount of Mn(OAc)2·4H2O to give selectively either saturated or unsaturated coupling products depending upon the presence of a catalytic amount of Cu(OAc)2·H2O.