The possibility to carry out Cu-catalyzed cross-couplings under ligandless conditions was studied. It was found that by using K3PO4 as the base, the cross-coupling could proceed successfully between aryl iodides and several types of nucleophiles. Aryl bromides were completely inactive under the same reaction conditions. (c) 2007 Qing Xiang Guo. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Chinese Chemical Society. All rights reserved.