Development of efficient catalytic arylation of aldehydes with thioether-imidazolinium carbene ligands

Effective methods of ligand design have been highly sought due to the significant roles of ligands in controlling metal catalyses. In particular, easy-to-handle ligands to realize high reaction efficacy, substrate tolerance, and environmental friendliness are desirable. Novel bidentate ligands containing N-heterocyclic carbene and thioether moieties were developed based on findings of hemilabile coordination, whose precursors were crystalline solids stable enough to handle and store in the air. The thioether-imidazolinium carbene ligand successfully brought out high catalyst performance of palladium in the catalytic arylation of aldehydes with organoboron reagents, which tolerated a diverse range of substrates including poorly reactive, sterically hindered, and heterocyclic compounds. This process was applied to gram-scale synthesis using only water as solvent with high efficiency and also achieved the effective one-pot synthesis of 3-arylphthalides known as useful biologically active agents and important synthetic intermediates for naturally occurring compounds.