functionalization reactions are appealing. During the past
few years, considerable effort has been devoted to using
copper catalysis in the construction of Cꢀheteroatom and
CꢀC bonds through selective catalytic functionalization
of aryl CꢀH bonds.4 However, the copper-catalyzed de-
hydrogenative diaryl cross-coupling reaction remains a
great challenge and largely unexplored. The reason is that
this strategy is often difficult to realize, as both coupling
partners, in particular coupling partners with similar
structure and reactivity, are susceptible to oxidative homo-
coupling in the presence of copper salts.5 To the best of our
knowledge, rare examples have been reported in this chal-
lenging area so far.6 Consequently, new copper-catalytic
systems to overcome these challenges are highly desirable.
In continuing our efforts in transition-metal-catalyzed de-
hydrogenative cross-couplings,7 herein, we describe a copper-
catalyzed dehydrogenative cross-coupling of benzothiazoles
with thiazoles through dual CꢀH bond functionalization
under mild reactions in a highly efficient manner and with
excellent regioselectivity. Furthermore, the methodology
could also be extended to polyfluoroarene.
In view of the importance of azoles,8 in particular,
bithiazaole derivatives, that are found in many biologically
active compounds, natural products,9 and materials (e.g.,
solar cells),10 as well as the fact that no copper-catalyzed
cross-coupling of both similar thiozoles has been re-
ported due to difficulties in suppressing undesired homo-
couplings,5 benzothiazole 1a and 4,5-dimethylthiazole 2a
were chosen as model substrates. Initially, no desired
product 3a was observed, when 1a (1.0 equiv) and 2a
(2.0 equiv) were treated with tBuOLi in DMF at 80 °C by
using Ag2CO3 as an oxidant, Cu(OAc)2 (20 mol %) as a
catalyst, and 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) as a ligand (Table 1,
entry 1). Further investigating the solvent effect, we found
that nonpolar solvent toluene was the best reaction medium,
providing 3a in 35% yield (Table 1, entry 4). Encouraged
by these preliminary results, we subsequently tried to
optimize the reaction conditions by using different bases,
copper salts, ligands, and oxidants. tBuONa, tBuOK, and
(tBuO)2Mg all failed to give 3a; only tBuOLi is a suitable
base. The choice of copper salts is also critical to the
reaction efficiency; CuI proved to be the optimum catalyst
with 60% isolated yield of 3a obtained when 2,20-bipydyl
(bpy) was used as a ligand (Table 1, entry 6). Other oxi-
dants such as AgOAc, AgNO3, air, and O2 showed less or
no activity (Table 1, entries 8ꢀ11). Further improvement
of the reaction efficiency by increasing the amount of 2a to
3.0 equiv led to a higher yield (Table 1, entry 12). Interest-
ingly, the absence of bpy also furnished 3a in a comparable
yield (Table 1, entry 13), whereas the absence of CuI or
Ag2CO3 failed to give any desired product (Table 1, entries
14ꢀ15), thus implying that a copper redox catalytic cycle
was involved in the reaction. Finally, the best yield of 3a
(71%) was afforded by decreasing the loading of CuI to
10 mol % (Table 1, entry 16).
(4) For selected examples, see: (a) Chen, X.; Hao, X.-S.; Goodhue,
C. E.; Yu, J.-Q. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2006, 128, 6790. (b) Li, Z.; Li, C.-J.
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2006, 128, 56. (c) Do, H.-Q.; Daugulis, O. J. Am.
Chem. Soc. 2007, 129, 12404. (d) Do, H.-Q.; Khan, R. M. K.; Daugulis,
O. J. Am. Soc. Chem. 2008, 130, 15185. (e) Brasche, G.; Buchwald, S. L.
Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2008, 47, 1932. (f) Ueda, S.; Nagasawa, H.
Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2008, 47, 6411. (g) Phipps, R. J.; Grimster, N. P.;
Gaunt, M. J. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2008, 130, 8172. (h) Ban, I.; Sudo, T.;
Taguchi, T.; Itami, K. Org. Lett. 2008, 10, 3607. (i) Kawano, T.;
Yoshizumi, T.; Hirano, K.; Satoh, T.; Miura, M. Org. Lett. 2009, 11,
3072. (j) Bernini, R.; Fabrizi, G.; Sferrazza, A.; Cacchi, S. Angew. Chem.,
Int. Ed. 2009, 48, 8078. (k) Jia, Y.-X.; Kundig, E. P. Angew. Chem., Int.
Ed. 2009, 48, 1636. (l) Phipps, R. J.; Gaunt, M. J. Science 2009, 323, 1593.
(m) Zhao, D.; Wang, W.; Yang, F.; Lan, J.; Yang, L.; Gao, G.; You, J.
Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2009, 48, 3296. (n) Do, H.-Q.; Daugulis, O.
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 13577. (o) Hachiya, H.; Hirano, K.; Satoh,
T.; Miura, M. Org. Lett. 2011, 13, 3076.
With the optimum reaction conditions determined
(Table 1, entry 16), various benzothiazoles and thiazoles
were then investigated (Scheme 1). The mild reaction con-
ditions allow for preparation of a variety of 2,20-linkages
of thiazoles in moderate to good yields. Different substi-
tuted benzothiazoles furnished the corresponding products
smoothly (3aꢀf). Importantly, 5-(2-(benzyloxy)ethyl)-4-
methylthiazole also tolerated reaction conditions, thus pro-
viding opportunities for further transformations (3g). It
should be mentioned that excellent regioselectivity at the
C-2 position of thiazoles was also observed when thiazole
and 4-methylthiazole were investigated (3hꢀi),11 which is in
contrast to a previous reported method by which a diary-
lated product is normally obtained.4c Consequently, these
resulting products 3hꢀi could be further transformed by
sequential CꢀH functionalization at the C4 position of the
thiazole part,12 thus featuring the utility of this protocol.
(5) (a) Do, H.-Q.; Daugulis, O. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2009, 131, 17052.
(b) Monguchi, D.; Yamamura, A.; Fujiwara, T.; Somete, T.; Mori, A.
Tetrahedron Lett. 2010, 51, 850. (c) Li, Y.; Jin, J.; Qian, W.; Bao, W. Org.
Biomol. Chem. 2010, 8, 326. (d) Zhu, M.; Fujita, K.-i.; Yamaguchi, R.
Chem. Commun. 2011, 47, 12876. For nickel-, manganese-, cobalt-, and
iron-catalyzed dehydrogenative arene homocoupling, see: (e) Truong,
T.; Alvarado, J.; Tran, L. D.; Daugulis, O. Org. Lett. 2010, 12, 1200.
(6) For copper-mediated dehydrogenative arene cross-coupling with
the chelation assistance of a 2-pyridyl group, see: (a) Kitahara, M.;
Umeda, N.; Hirano, K.; Satoh, T.; Miura, M. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011,
133, 2160. During our manuscript preparation, a copper-mediated and -
catalyzed dehydrogenative cross-coupling of indoles and oxazoles with
the chelation assistance of 2-pyrimidyl group has been reported; see: (b)
Nishino, M.; Hirano, K.; Satoh, T.; Miura, M. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed.
2012, 51, 6993. A copper-mediated dehydrogenative diarylation has also
been reported during our manuscript preparation; see: (c) Mao, Z.;
Wang, Z.; Xu, Z.; Huang, F.; Yu, Z.; Wang, R. Org. Lett. 2012, 14, 3854.
(7) (a) Zhang, X.; Fan, S.; He, C.-Y.; Wan, X.; Min, Q.-Q.; Yang, J.;
Jiang, Z.-X. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2010, 132, 4506. (b) He, C.-Y.; Fan, S.-L.;
Zhang, X. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2010, 132, 12850. (c) He, C.-Y.; Min, Q.-Q.;
Zhang, X. Organometallics 2012, 31, 1335. (d) Chen, F.; Feng, Z.; He, C.-Y.;
Wang, H.-Y.; Guo, Y.-l.; Zhang, X. Org. Lett. 2012, 14, 1176.
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Higa, T.; Gravalos, D. G. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1991, 113, 3173. (b) Razavi, H.;
Palaninathan, S. K.; Powers, E. T.; Wiseman, R. L.; Purkey, H. E.;
Mohamedmohaideen, N. N.; Deechongkit, S.; Chiang, K. P.; Dendle,
M. T. A.; Sacchettini, J. C.; Kelly, J. W. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2003, 42,
2758. (c) Coqueron, P. Y.; Didier, C.; Ciufolini, M. A. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed.
2003, 42, 1411. (d) Wiglenda, T.; Gust, R. J. Med. Chem. 2007, 50, 1475.
(9) (a) Bagley, M. C.; Dale, J. W.; Merritt, E. A.; Xiong, X. Chem.
Rev. 2005, 105, 685. (b) Nicolaou, K. C.; Zou, B.; Dethe, D. H.; Li, D. B.;
Chen, D. Y. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2006, 45, 7786. (c) Hughes, R. A.;
Moody, C. J. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2007, 46, 7930. (d) Naumov, P.;
Kochunnoony, M. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2010, 132, 1156.
(10) (a) Zhu, W.; Wu, Y.; Wang, Z. S.; Li, W.; Li, X.; Chen, J.; Wang,
Z.; Tian, H. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2011, 21, 756. (b) He, J.; Wu, W.; Hua, J.;
Jiang, Y.; Qu, S.; Li, J.; Long, Y.; Tian, H. J. Mater. Chem. 2011, 21,
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J. 2012, 18, 7903.
(11) For pKa values of representative heteroarenes, see: Shen, K.; Fu,
Y.; Li, J.-N.; Liu, L.; Guo, Q.-X. Tetrahedron 2007, 63, 1568.
(12) Lapointe, D.; Markiewicz, T.; Whipp, C. J.; Toderian, A.;
Fagnou, K. J. Org. Chem. 2011, 76, 749.
Org. Lett., Vol. 14, No. 18, 2012
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