A process for the preparation of 4-arylbut-3-en-2-ones

摘要

The palladium-catalyzed coupling of aryl and vinyl halides with vinylic compounds is disclosed. A preferred embodiment relating to the palladium catalyzed coupling of 4-substituted and 6-substituted-2-methoxynaphthalene to form nabumetone is also disclosed. The beauty of this novel reaction is that methylvinylketone, normally employed by the art directly as-is for the preparation of nabumetone, is formed in situ. We have discovered a mechanism to take advantage of the in situ formation of methylvinylketone, thus avoiding the use of expensive, toxic, and unstable methyl vinyl ketone feed. This reaction may be employed for a variety of pharmaceutically active and non-pharmaceutical compounds.