Palladium-Catalyzed Sequential Cross-Coupling/Annulation of ortho-Vinyl Bromobenzene with Aryl Bromide: Bimetallic Pathway versus Pd(II)–Pd(IV) Pathway: A DFT Investigation

The palladium-catalyzed sequential cross-coupling/annulation of ortho-vinyl bromobenzenes with aryl bromides generating phenanthrenes was characterized by density functional theory (DFT). The Pd­(II)–Pd­(IV) pathway (Path V) is shown to be less probable than the bimetallic pathway (Path I), the latter proceeding via the following six steps: oxidative addition, vinyl-C­(sp2)-H activation, Pd­(II)–Pd­(II) transmetalation, C–C coupling, aryl-C­(sp2)-H activation, and reductive elimination. The aryl-C­(sp2)-H activation process acts as the rate-determining step (RDS) of the entire chemical transformation, with an activation free energy barrier of ca. 27.4–28.8 kcal·mol–1, in good agreement with the corresponding experimental data (phenanthrenes’ yields of ca. 65–90% at 130 °C after 5 h of reaction). The K2CO3 additive effectively reduces the activation free energy barrier of the RDS through direct participation in the reaction while preferentially modulating the charge distributions and increasing the stability of corresponding intermediates and complexes along the reaction path. Furthermore, bonding and electronic structure analyses of the key structures indicate that the chemo- and regioselectivities of the reaction are strongly influenced by both electronic effects and steric hindrance.