Leading from our work in asymmetric alkene synthesis it was discovered that the alkenylatio of aldehydes with phosphonates proceeds smoothly at room temperature in the absence of Lewis acid using triethylamine as the base if the reaction is carried out at a pressure of 8 kbar. Based on this protoco a new domino process was developed, combining the HWE reaction with a Heck coupling, thus allowing the one pot synthesis of trisubstituted alkenes.
