Decarbonylative C-H Coupling of Azoles and Aryl Esters: Unprecedented Nickel Catalysis and Application to the Synthesis of Muscoride A

A nickel-catalyzed decarbonylative C-H biaryl coupling of azoles and aryl esters is described. The newly developed catalytic system does not require the use of expensive metal catalysts or silver- or copper-based stoichiometric oxidants. We have successfully applied this new C-H arylation reaction to a convergent formal synthesis of muscoride A.