Highly selective biaryl formation by the cyclooligomerization of arylethynes catalyzed by rhodium and ruthenium porphyrins

Rhodium and ruthenium porphyrins catalyze the one-pot formation of biaryl derivatives from arylethynes with high selectivity, giving interesting derivatives not easy to obtain using other different methods; the porphyrin catalysts can be recovered and reused after several experiments with no change of activity.