Direct palladium-catalyzed desulfitative CC coupling of polyfluoroarenes with arylsulfinate salts: Water-accelerated reactions

•A direct Pd-catalyzed desulfitative cross-coupling of polyfluoroarenes with various arylsulfinate salts to afford fluorinated biaryls has been described.•This reaction was accelerated by trace amount of water.•Several functional groups are compatible with this reaction.

A new approach to the synthesis of fluorinated biaryl compounds from easily available starting materials is described. This protocol is based on the direct palladium-catalyzed desulfitative cross-coupling of polyfluoroarenes with various arylsulfinate salts via CH bond activation, accelerated by trace amount of water. The method allows the synthesis of various fluorinated biaryl products in moderate to good yields, and tolerated a variety of functional groups, including alkyl, phenyl, methoxy, fluoro, and chloro groups.

Graphical abstractA new approach to the synthesis of fluorinated biaryl compounds from easily available starting materials is described. This protocol is based on the direct palladium-catalyzed desulfitative cross-coupling of polyfluoroarenes with various arylsulfinate salts via CH bond activation, accelerated by trace amount of water. The method allows the synthesis of various fluorinated biaryl products in moderate to good yields, and tolerated a variety of functional groups, including alkyl, phenyl, methoxy, fluoro, chloro, and nitro groups.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide