Organopalladium chemistry

In the industrially important Wacker process, ethylene is converted to acetaldehyde via nucleophilic attack of hydroxide on a Pd(II)-ethylene intermediate followed by formation of a vinyl alcohol complex.

Palladium(II) acetate and related compounds are common reagents because the carboxylates are good leaving groups with basic properties.

For example palladium trifluoroacetate has been demonstrated to be effective in aromatic decarboxylation:[3] The iconic complex in this series is allylpalladium chloride dimer (APC).

Allyl compounds with suitable leaving groups react with palladium(II) salts to pi-allyl complexes having hapticity 3.

These complexes react with halocarbon R-X in oxidative addition to R-Pd-X intermediates with covalent Pd-C bonds.