Negishi-type arylation of trialkylsulfonium salts with arylzinc reagents has been
accomplished under nickel catalysis. The use of cyclohexanethiol as an additional
ligand was found to be particularly important to promote C–S cleavage. The present
reaction accommodates one-pot arylation of dialkyl sulfides by combining with S-methylation with MeOTf. Mechanistic experiments suggest that C–S cleavage would proceed
via single-electron transfer (SET) to generate the most stable carbon-centered radical
and that the thiolate ligand would promote the C–S cleavage and radical recombination
step.
Key words
Negishi coupling - trialkylsulfonium salt - nickel catalysis - thiolate ligand - radical