Nickel‐Catalyzed Heck‐Type Alkenylation of Secondary and Tertiary α‐Carbonyl Alkyl Bromides

Ni made it! A novel Heck-type reaction of secondary and tertiary α-carbonyl alkyl bromides, most likely involving a radical process, was achieved through the use of a nickel catalyst. Various substituted styrenes and 1,1-diaryl alkenes were utilized as substrates to easily construct α-alkenyl carbonyl compounds with tertiary or quaternary carbon centers. A catalytic cycle involving NiI/NiII is proposed based on our experimental results. EWG=electron-withdrawing group. Detailed facts of importance to specialist readers are published as ”Supporting Information”. Such documents are peer-reviewed, but not copy-edited or typeset. They are made available as submitted by the authors. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.