No abstract

A new advantageous cyanating agent, potassium hexacyanoferrate(II), is described for the palladium-catalyzed cyanation of aryl halides. All cyanide ions on the iron(II) center can be transferred to the aryl halide using palladium(II) acetate and dppf as the catalyst. Under optimized reaction conditions good yields of benzonitriles and unprecedented catalyst productivities are observed.

A useful source of cyanide for the palladium‐catalyzed cyanation of aryl halides is acetone cyanohydrin (see scheme; dpppe=1,5‐bis(diphenylphosphanyl)pentane, tmeda=N,N,N′,N′‐tetramethylethylenediamine). The key to the success of the reaction is the slow dosage of the cyanation reagent to the reaction mixture to prevent the deactivation of the palladium catalyst caused by excess cyanide ions in solution.

The synthesis and application of monodentate N-substituted heteroarylphosphines is described. In general, the ligands are conveniently prepared by selective metallation at the 2-position of the respective N-substituted heterocycle (pyrrole, indole) by using n-butyllithium/tetramethylethylenediamine (TMEDA) followed by quenching with dialkyl- or diarylchlorophosphines. Of the different ligands prepared, the new dialkyl-2-(N-arylindolyl)phosphines (cataCXium P) perform excellently in the palladium-catalyzed amination of aryl and heteroaryl chlorides. Coupling of both activated and deactivated chloroarenes proceeds under mild conditions (room temperature to 60 degrees C). By using optimized conditions remarkable catalyst productivity (total turnover number, TON, up to 8000) and activity (turnover frequency, TOF=14000 h(-1) at 75% conversion) are observed.

In the mid 1990s, we started a program on the development of more efficient palladium catalysts for the C-C and C-N coupling reactions of aryl halides, especially aryl chlorides. In this contribution, our investigations on new catalyst systems and their application in organic synthesis are summarized.