Expedient carbonylation of aryl halides in aqueous or neat condition

An expedient and versatile, microwave-assisted procedure for the carbonylation of aryl halides with boronic acids, alcohols or amines in water or under neat conditions has been developed. The reaction is catalyzed by fluorous, oxime-based palladacycle 1 that shows an excellent recyclable property and low levels of Pd leaching. To demonstrate the usefulness of the protocol, we applied it to the preparation of compounds of pharmaceutical interest, including a precursor of the reverse transcriptase inhibitor, niacin, benzocaine and butamben.