Transition-Metal Free C-C Bond Cross-Coupling of Aryl Ethers with Diarylmethanes

We describe a general and efficient transition-metalfree C-Cbond cross-coupling of (hetero)-aryl ethers and diarylmethanes viaC-(sp(2))-O bond cleavage. The coupling reactions mediatedby KHMDS proceeded well with high efficiency, broad substrate scope,and good functional group tolerance. The robustness and practicabilityof this protocol also have been demonstrated by easy gram-scale preparationand diversified product derivatization.

Automated summary

We present a general and efficient transition-metal-free C-C bond cross-coupling reaction of (hetero)-aryl ethers and diarylmethanes via C-(sp(2))-O bond cleavage. The coupling reactions mediated by KHMDS demonstrated high efficiency, broad substrate scope, and good functional group tolerance. The robustness and practicality of this protocol were further demonstrated by gram-scale preparation and diversified product derivatization.