Abstract
Treatment of allylic (±)-p-toluenesulfinates with tetrakis(triphenylphosphine)palladium in the presence of chiral phosphine ligands underwent allylic sulfinate-sulfone rearrangements to give the corresponding optically active allylic sulfones in high optical yields. The palladium-catalyzed reactions of readily obtainable allylic acetates with sodium p-toluenesulfinate in the presence of chiral phosphine ligands provided a new entry to optically active allylic sulfones with high enantiomeric excess.