Nickel-catalyzed N-arylation of amines with arylboronic acids under open air

In this study, a well-defined, novel NHC-Ni complex was developed and used to catalyze the N-arylation of alkyl- and arylamines with arylboronic acids in a rare version of Chan-Lam coupling. Although the same coupling using copper catalysts has been widely studied, the nickel-catalyzed version is rare and normally requires 10–20?mol% catalyst loading. This novel NHC-Ni complex in combination with 4,4′-dimethyl-2,2′-bipyridine, however, proved to be an effective catalyst that lowered the required catalyst loading to only 2.0?mol%.