Facile Synthetic Method for Diverse Polyfunctionalized Imidazoles by Means of Pd-Catalyzed C-H Bond Arylation of N-Methyl-4,5-dibromoimidazole

C-H bond-selective arylation reaction of 4,5-dibromoimidazole with aryl iodides, catalyzed by the palladium-1,10-phenanthroline complex [Pd(phen)(2)](PF6)(2), has been developed. The process tolerates the presence of a variety of functional groups on the aryl halide substrates. The products formed in these reactions were transformed to a variety of polyfunctionalized imidazoles by taking advantage of selective reactions of remaining C-Br bonds.