A Superior Precursor for Palladium(0)-Based Cross-Coupling and Other Catalytic Reactions

The easily synthesized, easily handled compound Pd(eta(3)-1-PhC3H4)(eta(5)-C5H5) (H) reacts readily with mono- and bidentate tertiary phosphines to produce the corresponding bis-phosphine palladium(0) complexes in good yields; II is thus an excellent precursor, perhaps the most efficacious and reliable available, for the synthesis of palladium(0) cross-coupling catalysts.