Iron-Catalyzed Regioselective Anti-Markovnikov Addition of C–H Bonds in Aromatic Ketones to Alkenes

We report here on a C–H alkylation reaction, in which the coupling of aromatic ketones with alkenes proceeds in the presence of only a simple Fe­(PMe3)4 catalyst. The anti-Markovnikov addition of ortho C–H bonds in various ketones occurs with excellent regioselectivity under relatively mild reaction conditions. A strikingly wide variety of alkenes can be used for this reaction, and the high-yielding anti-Markovnikov addition of aromatic C–H bonds to enol ethers was achieved for the first time using this catalyst system.