General Light-Induced Pd-Catalyzed Allylic C–H Alkylation of Internal Alkenes: Direct Access to Tertiary and Quaternary Carbon Centers

Tertiary and quaternary carbon centers containing allylic systems are prevalent in natural products and drugs. Among existing approaches toward these valuable motifs, a direct allylic C-H alkylation is the most straightforward approach, which bypasses the requirement for prefunctionalization of allylic substrates. However, existing methods suffer from limited scope both in terms of alkenes and carbon nucleophiles. Herein, we report a light-induced Pd catalyzed method that overcomes these challenges, enabling the coupling of diverse internal alkenes with a range of carbon pronucleophiles including those with p<i>K</i>_a > 20. In addition, this method provides direct access to the construction of tertiary and quaternary carbon centers in enantioselective fashion.