A general method based on nickel-catalyzed C–O activation of various phenol derivatives with potassium (hetero)aryltrifluoroborates has been developed. A large number of heterobiaryls can be easily obtained with yields up to 99% using methanesulfonate cross-coupling partners.

The introduction of an alkoxyethyl moiety onto aromatic substructures has remained a long-standing challenge for synthetic organic chemists. The main reasons are the inherent instability of alkoxyethylmetallic species and the lack of general procedures to access them. A new method utilizing a cross-coupling strategy based on the exceptional properties of organotrifluoroborates has been developed, and the method allows an easy and efficient installation of this unit on a broad range of aryl and heteroaryl bromides.

We describe a one-pot, simultaneous Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling of two different aryl boronic acids with symmetrical dibromo aryl and heterocyclic substrates to give as major products the unsymmetrical disubstituted tri(hetero)aryl derivatives. Yields of unsymmetrical dicoupled products were generally in the 52-75% range. This methodology is particularly suited to the generation of chemical libraries, as well as to the synthesis of biologically active or natural product analogs.

C-O activation of mesylates by a palladium catalyst and subsequent cross-coupling with potassium cyclopropyltrifluoroborate have been achieved with high yield. Both electron-enriched and electron-deficient aryl mesylates are suitable electrophilic partners for the Suzuki-Miyaura reaction. The scope was successfully extended to heteroaryl mesylates with yields up to 94%.