One-pot direct C-H arylation of arenes in water catalysed by RuCl3 center dot nH(2)O-NaOAc in the presence of Zn

The inexpensive and commercially available catalytic system RuCl3 center dot nH(2)O-NaOAc-Zn is active in water for the direct C-H arylation of arenes with aryl/heteroaryl chlorides. The reaction can be accelerated by the use of microwave irradiation and can also be scaled up to a multi-gram scale with excellent isolated yields.