Catalyst Control of Site Selectivity in the PdII/IV-Catalyzed Direct Arylation of Naphthalene

This letter describes a new method for the highly site and chemoselective Pd-catalyzed direct. arylation of naphthalene. Tuning the structure. of the. ligated Pd fatalist results formation of the alpha-arylated product in high yield and > 50:1 selectivity: to our knowledge, the first. systematic, evaluation of catalyst control in the C-H arylation of an unactivated aromatic sustrate. Preliminary studies implicate an unusual mechanism involving sequential naphthalene pi-coordination/metalation at Pd-IV.