Process for purifying vinylically unsaturated compounds prepared using a palladium-complex catalyst

In an improved process of reducing the concentration of palladium and halide in a crude vinylically unsaturated product that has been extracted with water from a product mixture containing the crude vinylically unsaturated product, the product mixture being formed from a palladium-complex-catalyzed reaction of a reactant halide selected from the group consisting of aryl, allyl, vinyl, and benzyl halides, and a reactant olefin having a vinylic hydrogen;

• wherein the reaction is carried out in the presence of a hydrogen halide acceptor;
• the improvement comprising the steps of:
• a) contacting the crude vinylically unsaturated product with a base that is stronger than the hydrogen halide acceptor and phase-separable from the product;
• b) phase-separating the product in step (a) from the stronger base;
• then
• c) heating the separated product of step (b) under conditions such that the palladium can be isolated from the product by filtration or centrifugation;
• and
• d) removing the palladium from the product in step (c).