Phosphine-Mediated Olefination between Aldehydes and Allenes: An Efficient Synthesis of Trisubstituted 1,3-Dienes with High E-Selectivity

The phosphine-mediated olefination of aldehydes with electron-deficient allenes to afford trisubstituted conjugated dienes in fair to excellent yields with high E-selectivity is described. The reaction represents a new reactivity pattern of allenes with aldehydes and also provides a highly stereoselective synthetic method for preparing conjugated dienes. In the reaction, the phosphine acts as a nucleophilic promoter to generate in situ an active phosphorus ylide which mediates the intermolecular olefination.