Magnesiation of electron-rich aryl bromides and their use in nickel-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions

Electron-rich aryl bromides are rapidly converted to the corresponding lithium triarylmagnesiates with (n-Bu)(3)MgLi, which undergo efficient nickel-catalyzed Kumada-Corriu cross-coupling reactions with a variety of aryl and alkenyl bromides, chlorides, tosylates, and triflates.