A nickel catalyst for reductive cleavage of aryl ethers in the absence of an external reductant is developed. The alkoxy group of the substrate serves as an internal reductant.

We report nickel-catalyzed cross-coupling of methoxyarenes with alkylmagnesium halides, in which a methoxy group is eliminated. A wide range of alkyl groups, including those bearing β-hydrogens, can be introduced directly at the ipso position of anisole derivatives. We demonstrate that the robustness of a methoxy group allows this alkylation protocol to be used to synthesize elaborate molecules by combining it with traditional cross-coupling reactions or oxidative transformation. The success of this method is dependent on the use of alkylmagnesium iodides, but not chlorides or bromides, which highlights the importance of the halide used in developing catalytic reactions using Grignard reagents.

Despite advances in methods for the decarbonylation of aldehydes, the decarbonylation of ketones has been met with limited success because this process requires the activation of two inert carbon-carbon bonds. All of the decarbonylation reactions of simple unstrained ketones reported to date require the addition of a stoichiometric rhodium complex. We report herein the nickel/N-heterocyclic carbene-mediated decarbonylation of simple diaryl ketones. This reaction shows unique acceleration effects based on the presence of both electron-donating and electron-withdrawing groups.