Activated aryl chlorides: Useful partners for the coupling with 2-substituted thiazoles in the palladium-catalysed C-H activation/functionalisation reaction

Aryl chlorides are noticeably uncommon partners in coupling reactions with heteroaromatics through C-H activation. We report herein that as little as 1 mol-% of the air-stable PdCl(dppb)(C3H5) complex catalyses the direct coupling of electron-deficient aryl chlorides with 2-substituted thiazole derivatives. A range of functionalities on the aryl chloride such as acetyl, formyl, ester, nitro, nitrile or trifluoromethyl is tolerated. ((C) Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2007)