Many reactions have been discovered that lead to coupling of haloarenes to arenes
using potassium tert-butoxide as the base, and one of a variety of organic compounds as an additive. The
organic additive reacts with the base to form a strong organic electron donor in situ
that initiates a base-induced homolytic aromatic substitution (BHAS) coupling reaction,
by converting the haloarene into an aryl radical. This brief report presents an overview
of the wide range of organic additives that can be used, and the organic electron
donors that they form.
Key words
electron transfer - initiation - BHAS coupling - organic electron donor - radical
reaction