Oxidative addition of heteroaromatic halides to Negishi reagent and subsequent cross-coupling reactions

Heteroarylzirconocene halides were prepared via the oxidative addition of heteroaryl halides to the Negishi reagent 'Cp2ZrBu2'. The palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling of the in situ generated organozirconium reagents with functionalized aryl and heteroaryl halides proceeded smoothly in the presence of CuCl to produce the cross-coupling products in high yields.