State Key Laboratory of Structural Chemistry, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 155 Yangqiao Road West, Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, People's Republic of China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, People's Republic of China
Liang Ge
State Key Laboratory of Structural Chemistry, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 155 Yangqiao Road West, Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, People's Republic of China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, People's Republic of China
Jinshuai Song
State Key Laboratory of Structural Chemistry, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 155 Yangqiao Road West, Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, People's Republic of China
Wujun Jian
State Key Laboratory of Structural Chemistry, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 155 Yangqiao Road West, Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, People's Republic of China
Yajun Li
State Key Laboratory of Structural Chemistry, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 155 Yangqiao Road West, Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, People's Republic of China
Chunsen Li
State Key Laboratory of Structural Chemistry, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 155 Yangqiao Road West, Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, People's Republic of China; Corresponding author
Hongli Bao
State Key Laboratory of Structural Chemistry, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 155 Yangqiao Road West, Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, People's Republic of China; Key Laboratory of Coal to Ethylene Glycol and Its Related Technology, Center for Excellence in Molecular Synthesis, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 155 Yangqiao Road West, Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, People's Republic of China; Corresponding author
Summary: The Heck reaction, along with other cross-coupling reactions, led to a revolution in organic chemistry. In the last 50 years, metal-catalyzed, photo-induced, or base-mediated Heck and Heck-type reactions have been elegantly developed. Brønsted acid-catalyzed Heck (or Heck-type) reactions are still unknown, however. By introducing alkyl peroxides as the key intermediates, primary, secondary, and tertiary aliphatic carboxylic acids are therefore applied here in a one-pot Brønsted acid-catalyzed Heck-type reaction, to deliver E-alkenes exclusively in most cases. The use of HOTf is vital to the reaction, whose mechanism is supported by both experimental and computational results. This method can be expanded to the direct alkylation of complex natural products. : Organic Synthesis; Organic Chemistry Methods; Natural Product Synthesis Subject Areas: Organic Synthesis, Organic Chemistry Methods, Natural Product Synthesis