Preferential oxidative addition in Suzuki cross-coupling reactions across one fluorene unit

The Suzuki-type cross-coupling reaction of 2,7-dihalofluorenes with 1 equiv of arylboronic acid and Pd-2(dba)(3)/P(t-Bu-3) as a catalyst system is investigated. The exclusive formation of the diarylated coupling product demonstrates that preferential oxidative addition is also applicable to fluorene monomers due to a controlled intramolecular motion of the regenerated Pd(0) catalyst across the large distance between the 2- and the 7-position of one fluorene monomer.