Palladium-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling of Unactivated Aryl Sulfides with Arylzinc Reagents under Mild Conditions

Cross-coupling of general aryl alkyl sulfides with arylzinc reagents proceeds smoothly, even at room temperature or below, with a palladium N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) catalyst. When combined with reactions that are unique to organosulfurs, that is, the SNAr sulfanylation or Pummerer reaction, the cross-coupling offers interesting transformations that are otherwise difficult to achieve. An alkylsulfanyl group is preferentially converted whilst leaving the tosyloxy and chloro intact, which expands the variety of orthogonal cross-coupling.