Pd-catalyzed reduction of aryl halides using dimethylformamide as the hydride source

The Pd-catalyzed homocoupling of aryl halides in a basic DMF solution is often accompanied by the dehalogenation of the substrate as side reaction. When an inorganic base such as sodium bicarbonate is used, the reducing role of the solvent has been demonstrated using DMF-d7 and GC/MS analysis.

According to the GC/MS analysis of a reaction carried out in DMF-d7, the solvent is the source of the reducing agent leading to naphthalene.