Efficient Fe-catalyzed homo-coupling of aryl Grignard reagents using O2 as the oxidant

FeCl3/Bipy catalyst system was found to be a good combination in the oxidative homo-coupling of aryl Grignard reagents directly using molecular oxygen as the oxidant. Moderate to good yields of desired corresponding symmetrical biaryls were obtained at room temperature in 10 min. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.