Biaryl and Aryl Ketone Synthesis via Pd-Catalyzed Decarboxylative Coupling of Carboxylate Salts with Aryl Triflates

A bimetallic catalyst system has been developed that for the first time allows the decarboxylative cross-coupling of aryl and acyl carboxylates with aryl triflates. In contrast to aryl halides, these electrophiles give rise to non-coordinating anions as byproducts, which do not interfere with the decarboxylation step that leads to the generation of the carbon nucleophilic cross-coupling partner. As a result, the scope of carboxylate substrates usable in this transformation was extended from ortho-substituted or otherwise activated derivatives to a broad range of ortho-, meta-, and para-substituted aromatic carboxylates. Two alternative protocols have been optimized, one involving heating the substrates in the presence of Cu-1/1,10-phenanthroline (10-15 mol%) and PdI2/phosphine (2-3 mol%) in NMP for 1-24 h, the other involving Cu-1/1,10-phenanthroline (6-15 mol%) and PdBr2/Tol-BINAP (2 mol%) in NMP using microwave heating for 5-10 min. While most products are accessible using standard heating, the use of microwave irradiation was found to be beneficial especially for the conversion of non-activated carboxylates with functionalized aryl triflates. The synthetic utility of the transformation is demonstrated with 48 examples showing the scope and limitations of both protocols. In mechanistic studies, the special role of microwave irradiation is elucidated, and further perspectives of decarboxylative cross-couplings are discussed.