Mono‐, bis‐ and tris‐piperidine fused imidazolinium salts: their in situ catalytic applications for C?C bond formation in aqueous solutions

The 1,5,6,7,8,8a‐hexahydroimidazo1,5‐a]pyridine, 3, was quaternized with 2‐(bromomethyl‐1,3,5‐trimethylbenzene, 1,4‐bis(bromomethyl)‐2,3,5,6‐tetramethylbenzene, 2,4‐bis(bromomethyl)‐1,3,5‐trimethylbenzene, 1,3,5‐tris(bromomethyl)‐2,4,6‐trimethylbenzene and 1,3,5‐tris(bromomethyl)‐2,4,6‐triethylbenzene to obtain mono‐, bis‐ and tris‐imidazolinium salts (4–7) which were characterized by elemental analysis and NMR spectroscopy. In order to understand the effects of these changes on the N‐substituent and how they translate to catalytic activity, these new salts (4–7) with Pd(OAc)₂ were applied as in situ catalysts for Suzuki‐Miyaura and Heck‐Mirozoki cross‐coupling reactions of aryl chlorides and aryl bromides, respectively. The tris‐imidazolinium salts (7) were found to be more efficient than the related analogs 4–6. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.