Hydrogen-bond directed palladium-catalyzed allylic substitution of cyclic substrates

The regioselectivity of the Pd-catalyzed allylic substitution of cyclic substrates possessing an adjacent amide functional group was investigated. With imide-like nucleophiles, six-membered ring substrates were found to proceed with a high level of regiodirection whereas hydrogen-bond directed addition was not a significant factor in the five-membered ring substrates.