Facile syntheses of homoleptic diarylmercurials via arylboronic acids

A general procedure for the syntheses of diarylmercurials is presented. Reactions proceeded in isopropanol in the presence of a base and arylboronic acid. With one exception, all reactions proceeded in good to excellent yields, and this procedure was applicable to a variety of aromatic and heteroaromatic boronic acids. Products were characterized by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy and microanalysis, and investigated by DFT calculations. The structure of di(4-pyridyl)mercury (6) was further authenticated by X-ray crystallography. Combined with previous work on the formation of arylgold(I) complexes via arylboronic acids, this procedure may be generally useful for the arylation of late transition metals.