Development of a palladium catalyzed addition of boronic acids to alkynyl esters: synthesis of trisubstituted olefins as single isomers

Very small phosphine ligands allow access to single isomer trisubstituted olefins from alkynyl esters with complete control of both stereochemistry and regiochemistry. This method provides a convenient synthesis of single isomer trisubstituted olefins without requiring olefin templates.