Nickel-catalyzed coupling of aryl iodides with aromatic aldehydes: Chemoselective synthesis of ketones

Aryl iodides (ArI) couple with aryl aldehydes (Ar'CHO) in the presence of Ni(dppe)Br-2 and Zn to give the corresponding biaryl ketones (ArCOAr'). The use of a bidentate phosphine complex is critical to the success of this catalytic reaction. The reaction provides a new procedure for the synthesis of various functionalized biaryl ketones.