Solid-phase synthesis of biphenyls and terphenyls by the traceless multifunctional cleavage of polymer-bound arenesulfonates

Nickel-catalyzed reactions between polymer-bound arene-sulfonates and aryl Grignard reagents produce unfunctionalized biphenyls and terphenyls in good yields through reductive cleavage/cross-coupling of the C-S bond. This novel traceless multifunctional cleavage strategy appears to be a powerful tool for the preparation of large oligophenyl libraries, because it allows the introduction of diversity concomitantly with the release of the target compounds. ((c) Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2005).