A palladium NNC-pincer complex efficiently catalyzed the direct arylation of thiophene
derivatives with extremely low palladium loadings of the order of parts per million.
Thus, the reaction of various thiophenes with aryl bromides in the presence of 25–100
mol ppm of chlorido[(2-phenyl-κ-C
2)-9-phenyl-1,10-phenanthroline-κ2-N,N′]palladium(II) NNC-pincer complex, K2CO3, and pivalic acid in N,N-dimethylacetamide afforded the corresponding 2- or 5-arylated thiophenes in good
to excellent yields. A combination of the present C–H arylation and Hiyama coupling
with the same NNC-pincer complex provides an efficient synthesis of unsymmetrical
2,5-thiophenes with catalyst loadings at mol ppm levels.
Key words
C–H functionalization - arylation - palladium catalysis - pincer complexes - thiophenes
- Hiyama coupling