Stable Au(I) catalysts for oxidant-free C-H functionalization with iodoarenes

The development of oxidant-free gold-catalyzed cross coupling reactions involving aryl halides have been hamstrung by the lack of gold catalysts capable of performing oxidative addition at Au(I) centers. Herein, we report the development of novel tricoordinate Au(I) catalysts supported by N,N-bidentate ligands and ligated by phosphine or arsine ligands for C-H functionalization without external oxidants to form biaryls with no homocoupling. The unsymmetrical character of the Au(I) catalyst is critical to facilitating this necessary orthogonal transformation. This study unveils yet another potential of Au(I) catalysis in biaryl synthesis.(c) 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study reports the development of a gold-catalyzed cross coupling reaction without oxidants, which can form biaryls without homocoupling of aryl halides. The study unveils the critical role of unsymmetrical tricoordinate Au(I) catalysts in this transformation.