Industrial-scale palladium-catalyzed coupling of aryl halides and amines - A personal account

The palladium-catalyzed coupling of amines and aryl halides or aryl alcohol derivatives has matured from an exotic small-scale transformation into a very general, efficient and robust reaction during the last ten years. This article reports several applications of this method from an industrial vantage point, including ligand synthesis, synthesis of arylpiperazines, arylhydrazines and diarylamines. Much emphasis in placed on issues of scale-up and safety to underline the potential of C-N couplings as solutions for industrial-scale synthetic problems.