The palladium-catalyzed reduction of ailylicesters with formic acid developed by Tsuji and co-workers' provides a convenient method for regioselective synthesis of less-substituted olefins. Mechanistic studies2 on the catalytic reduction have revealed thatthe olefin is produced by reductive elimination from the key intermediate, Pd (II)(? r-allyl)(hydrido)(L), which is generated by the decarboxylation of the palladium formate complex, and that the ...
[Singaram, Bakthan; Rangaishenvi, Milind V.; Brown, Herbert C.; Goralski, Christian G.; Hasha, Dennis L. Journal of Organic Chemistry, 1991 , vol. 56, # 4 p. 1543 - 1549]