Metallic samarium and iodine promoted facile and efficient syntheses of trisubstituted alkenes from the acetates of Baylis-Hillman adducts

Promoted by samarium metal in the presence of a catalytic amount of iodine, the Baylis-Hillman adducts underwent reductive elimination to form (E)-methylcinnamic ester derivatives. When the iodine was used in 1:1 ratio with metallic samarium, stereospecific syntheses of allylic iodide derivatives, (2Z)-2-(iodomethyl)alk-2-enoates, were achieved. Thus, this gives a new approach to the selective construction of stereo-defined trisubstituted alkenes with the simple Sm/I2 system.