Competing reactions of hydrophenylation and phenylation in tetraphenylantimony chloride methyl acrylate palladium chloride system

A new catalytic reaction of the competing phenylation and hydrophenylation in air of methyl acrylate with tetraphenylantimony chloride in the presence of PdCl2 (0.04 mol per 1 mol of organometallic compound) in acetonitrile at 50°C for 6 h was studied. The yields of methyl cynnamate and methyl hydrocynnamate were 0.73 and 0.27 mol mol−1 respectively. The products ratio obtained depends slightly on the process duration, the Ph4SbCl and methyl acrylate ratio, and the structure of Pd salt [PdCl2, Pd(OAc)2, Li2PdCl4], but significantly on the nature of a solvent (MeCN > DMF > THF). The use of Ph4SbCl instead of Ph4SbBr leads to decrease in the yield of methyl hydrocynnamate to 0.04 mol mol−1. In the reactions of Ph4SbX (X = F, I, OAc, O2CEt) the product is not formed at all.