Palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction by means of organogermanium trichlorides

Easily accessible arylgermanium trichlorides were found to undergo palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions with aryl bromides and iodides in good yields. The reaction is performed in an aqueous medium with sodium hydroxide as an activator. Some base-sensitive functionalities such as acetyl and trifluoromethyl survived the reaction.