Pd-catalyzed coupling of β-hydroxy α-diazocarbonyl compounds with aryl iodides: a migratory insertion/β-hydroxy elimination sequence

The coupling of β-hydroxy α-diazocarbonyl compounds with aryl halides is described, which proceeds through a Pd-catalyzed migratory insertion/β-OH elimination sequence. This reaction provides a new route to the synthesis of tetrasubstituted olefins.     

Light‐Promoted Nickel Catalysis: Etherification of Aryl Electrophiles with Alcohols Catalyzed by a NiII‐Aryl Complex

A highly effective C?O coupling reaction of (hetero)aryl electrophiles with primary and secondary alcohols is reported. Catalyzed by a Ni^II‐aryl complex under long‐wave UV (390–395 nm) irradiation in the presence of a soluble amine base without any additional photosensitizer, the reaction enables the etherification of aryl bromides and aryl chlorides as well as sulfonates with a wide range of primary and secondary aliphatic alcohols, affording synthetically important ethers. Intramolecular C?O coupling is also possible. The reaction appears to proceed via a Ni^I–Ni^III catalytic cycle.     

Light-Promoted Nickel Catalysis: Etherification of Aryl Electrophiles with Alcohols Catalyzed by a NiII-Aryl Complex

A highly effective C−O coupling reaction of (hetero)aryl electrophiles with primary and secondary alcohols is reported. Catalyzed by a Ni^II-aryl complex under long-wave UV (390–395 nm) irradiation in the presence of a soluble amine base without any additional photosensitizer, the reaction enables the etherification of aryl bromides and aryl chlorides as well as sulfonates with a wide range of primary and secondary aliphatic alcohols, affording synthetically important ethers. Intramolecular C−O coupling is also possible. The reaction appears to proceed via a Ni^I–Ni^III catalytic cycle.     

Derivatization of a tris-oxazole using Pd-catalyzed coupling reactions of a 5-bromooxazole moiety

Modification at the C5 position of an oxazole ring contained in a 2,4-concatenated tris-oxazole by Pd-catalyzed coupling reactions was performed. Novel Pd-catalyzed amination and alkoxylation of a 5-bromooxazole derivative as well as Suzuki-Miyaura coupling and Migita-Stille coupling have been demonstrated. A wide variety of functional groups, including aryl, heteroaryl, primary and secondary amines, and phenol, were introduced in the 5-bromooxazole moiety in moderate to excellent yields using Pd(OAc)₂/S-PHOS or Pd(OAc)₂/X-PHOS as a catalyst.     

Nickel-catalyzed Negishi cross-coupling reactions of secondary alkylzinc halides and aryl iodides

A general Ni-catalyzed process for the cross-coupling of secondary alkylzinc halides and aryl/heteroaryl iodides has been developed. This is the first process to overcome the isomerization and β-hydride elimination problems that are associated with the use of secondary nucleophiles, and that have limited the analogous Pd-catalyzed systems. The impact of salt additives was also investigated. It was found that the presence of LiBF(4) dramatically improves both isomeric retention and yield for challenging substrates.     

Silver-promoted cross-coupling of substituted allyl(trimethyl)silanes with aryl iodides by palladium catalysis

A ligand-free Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling of substituted allyl(trimethyl)silanes with aryl iodides enabled by silver salts was developed. This reaction delivered allylic arenes chemoselectively and regioselectively. The study suggested that the reaction might proceed through oxidative addition of ArI to Pd(0) followed by halide abstraction to give an electrophilic complex ArPdX, which further reacted with allyl(trimethyl)silanes via electrophilic addition/desilylation/reductive elimination to afford the allyl-aryl coupling products.     

Synthesis and characterization of monodisperse oligofluorenes

An efficient synthesis of 9,9-bis(2-ethylhexyl)fluorene oligomers up to the heptamer is reported, with repetitive Suzuki and Yamamoto coupling reactions employed in the synthesis. The key steps for preparation of the essential intermediates include Pd-catalyzed transformation of aryl bromides to aryl boronic esters (Miyaura reaction) and the application of the much higher reactivity of aryl boronic esters over aryl bromides in the Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction with aryl diazonium salts. Variation of the UV/Vis absorption and photoluminescence characteristics with chain length is reported. Moreover, glass transition and liquid-crystal characteristics of the oligomers are described and compared with those of the polymer.     

Palladium-catalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura cross-couplings of aryl tosylates with potassium aryltrifluoroborates

Pd-catalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reaction of aryl tosylates with potassium aryl trifluoroborate in the presence of bulky and electron-rich phosphine ligand is described. In addition, a useful chemoselective coupling of an aryl chloride in the presence of a tosyloxy group was demonstrated.     

A general method for palladium-catalyzed reactions of primary sulfonamides with aryl nonaflates

A general method for Pd-catalyzed sulfonamidation of aryl nonafluorobutanesulfonates (aryl nonaflates) is described. A biaryl phosphine ligand, t-BuXPhos, formed the most active catalyst, and K(3)PO(4) in tert-amyl alcohol was found to be the optimal base-solvent combination for the reaction. The reaction conditions were tolerant of various functional groups such as cyano, nitro, ester, aldehyde, ketone, chloride, carbamate, and phenol. Heterocyclic aryl nonaflates were found to be suitable coupling partners. High yields of the coupled products were obtained from the reactions between inherently disfavored substrates such as electron-rich nonaflates and electron-poor sulfonamides. Kinetic data suggest reductive elimination to be the rate-limiting step for the reaction. The only limitation of this methodology that we have identified is the inability of 2,6-disubstituted aryl nonaflates to efficiently participate in the reaction.     

Studies on the Cu(I)-catalyzed regioselective anti-carbometallation of secondary terminal propargylic alcohols

A highly regioselective Cu(I)-catalyzed anti-carbometallation of secondary terminal propargylic alcohols with 1 degrees alkyl or aryl Grignard reagents affording 2-substituted allylic alcohols was developed. By using this method, optically active allylic alcohols can be prepared from the optically active propargylic alcohols without obvious loss of the enantiopurity. The cyclic organometallic intermediate formed may undergo an iodination or a Pd(0)-catalyzed coupling reaction to afford stereo-defined allylic alcohols.     

Practical synthesis of azobenzenophanes

We devised a practical synthetic route to azobenzenophanes via successive Cu- and Pd-catalyzed coupling reaction of aryl hydrazide and aryl halide followed by Cu(I)-mediated oxidation reaction.     

Efficient cross-coupling of secondary alkyltrifluoroborates with aryl chlorides--reaction discovery using parallel microscale experimentation

Microscale parallel experimentation was used to discover three catalyst systems capable of coupling secondary organotrifluoroborates with sterically and electronically demanding aryl chlorides and bromides. The ensuing results represent the first comprehensive study of alkylboron coupling to aryl chlorides and, in particular, using secondary alkylboron partners. A ligand-dependent beta-hydride elimination/reinsertion mechanism was implicated in the cross-coupling of more hindered substrates, leading to isomeric mixtures of coupled products in some cases.     

An improved protocol for the Pd-catalyzed alpha-arylation of aldehydes with aryl halides

An improved protocol for the Pd-catalyzed alpha-arylation of aldehydes with aryl halides has been developed. The new catalytic system allows for the coupling of an array of substrates including challenging electron-rich aryl bromides and less reactive aryl chlorides. The utility of this method has been demonstrated in a new total synthesis of (+/-)-sporochnol.     

The selective reaction of aryl halides with KOH: synthesis of phenols, aromatic ethers, and benzofurans

The direct and selective synthesis of phenols from aryl/heteroaryl halides and KOH has been achieved through the use of highly active monophosphine-based catalysts derived from Pd(2)dba(3) and ligands L1 or L2 and the biphasic solvent system 1,4-dioxane/H(2)O. We have also demonstrated a one-pot method of phenol formation/alkylation for the preparation of alkyl aryl ethers from aryl halides. In many instances, this protocol overcomes limitations in existing Pd-catalyzed coupling reactions of aliphatic alcohols with aryl halides. Finally, we demonstrate that substituted benzofurans can be prepared efficiently via a Pd-catalyzed phenol formation/cyclization protocol starting from 2-chloroaryl alkynes.     

Tandem Pd-Catalyzed Cyclization/Coupling of Non-Terminal Acetylenic Activated Methylenes with (Hetero)Aryl Bromides

We report a new method for a tandem Pd-catalyzed intramolecular addition of active methylene compounds to internal alkynes followed by coupling with aryl and heteroaryl bromides. Highly substituted vinylidenecyclopentanes were obtained with good yields, complete selectivity, and excellent functional group tolerance. A plausible mechanism, supported by DFT calculations, involves the oxidative addition of bromoarene to Pd(0), followed by cyclization and reductive elimination. The excellent regio- and stereoselectivity arises from the 5-exo-dig intramolecular addition of the enol form of the substrate to alkyne activated by the π-acidic Pd(II) center, postulated as the rate-determining step.     

Novel route to azobenzenes via Pd-catalyzed coupling reactions of aryl hydrazides with aryl halides,followed by direct oxidations

[reaction: see text] N-Boc aryl hydrazines undergo Pd-catalyzed coupling reactions with aryl halides to provide N-Boc diaryl hydrazines in excellent yields. The resulting N-Boc diaryl hydrazines were directly oxidized with NBS/pyridine in CH(2)Cl(2) at room temperature to the azobenzenes.     

Highly efficient route to fused polycyclic aromatics via palladium-catalyzed aryne annulation by aryl halides

Polycyclic aromatic and heteroaromatic hydrocarbons have been synthesized in high yield by two different processes involving the Pd-catalyzed annulation of arynes. The first process involves a Pd-catalyzed annulation of arynes by 2-halobiaryls and related vinylic halides. The second process utilizes a Pd-catalyzed double annulation of arynes by simple aryl halides. Both processes appear to involve the catalytic, stepwise coupling of two very reactive substrates, an aryne and an organopalladium species, to generate excellent yields of cross-coupled products.     

Direct preparation of allylic indium(III) reagents from allylic alcohols via a reductive transmetalation of pi-allylnickel(II) with indium(I) iodide

InI-mediated direct allylation of carbonyl compounds with allylic alcohols proceeded smoothly with catalytic amounts of Ni(acac)(2) and PPh(3) to give the corresponding homoallylic alcohols in high yields. Allylindium compounds were shown to be the real allylating agents in the present system. Substituted allylic alcohols gave branched homoallylic alcohols with syn-selectivity irrespective of the geometry of the starting allylic alcohols, whereas high anti-selectivity was observed when a bulky substituent is present in the allylic alcohols. The outcome of the diastereoselectivity is discussed on the basis of the reaction mechanism, comparing with the corresponding Pd-catalyzed version. Another distinct behavior between the Ni- and Pd-catalyzed allylation was demonstrated in the reaction of hex-1,5-diene-3,4-diol derivatives: the Pd catalyst did not give any coupling product, whereas the Ni-catalyzed InI-mediated reaction with benzaldehyde afforded the 1:1 and 1:2 adduct diols selectively depending on the reaction conditions.     

Evidence for in situ catalyst modification during the Pd-catalyzed conversion of aryl triflates to aryl fluorides

A mechanistic investigation of the Pd-catalyzed conversion of aryl triflates to fluorides is presented. Studies reveal that C-F reductive elimination from a LPd(II)(aryl)F complex (L = t-BuBrettPhos or RockPhos) does not occur when the aryl group is electron rich. Evidence is presented that a modified phosphine, generated in situ, serves as the actual supporting ligand during catalysis with such substrates. A preliminary study of the reactivity of a LPd(II)(aryl)F complex based on this modified ligand is reported.     

In Situ Generated Palladium Nanoparticles for Catalytic Dehalogenation of Aryl Halides and Deboronation of Arylboronic acids

Palladium nanoparticles in situ generated from palladacyclic complexes efficiently catalyzed the deboronation of arylboronic acids and the dehalogenation as well as homo‐coupling of aryl iodides in an alcohol medium under basic conditions. Isotope labeled studies indicated that the β‐elimination of alcohols provided the hydrogen source for the reaction.