A R T I C L E S
Campeau et al.
reactions employs aryl iodides as coupling partners.3a,4e,4j,22 Even
with electron-rich heterocyclic arenes, use of aryl chlorides is
rare despite the fact that aryl chlorides are more readily available
and less expensive.6 Furthermore, no single catalyst has been
shown to be capable of achieving catalytic arylation with simple
arenes and aryl iodides, bromides, and chlorides.
In this account we report (1) the development of an
operationally simple catalyst system for direct intramolecular
arylation processes exhibiting broad scope for aryl chlorides,
bromides, and iodides including previously incompatible steri-
cally encumbered aryl chlorides and bromides; (2) evidence that,
despite their widespread use, aryl iodides exhibit inferior
reactivity compared to that of aryl bromides and chlorides in
the direct arylation reactions studied; (3) insight into catalyst
poisoning with aryl iodides leading to new reaction conditions
showing increased reactivity; (4) application of these processes
to the synthesis of a carbazole natural product, Mukonine, in
three steps from simple starting materials; (5) conditions for
the efficient formation of tetra-ortho-substituted biaryls and their
conversion to acyclic tetra-ortho-substituted biaryls; (6) mecha-
nistic studies pointing to a kinetically significant C-H bond
cleavage step in the direct arylation of simple arenes; (7) the
development of the first intermolecular direct arylation reactions
of a simple arene with aryl chlorides and bromides thus setting
the stage for further expansion in these previously inaccessible
processes.
(4) (a) Kalyani, D.; Deprez, N. R.; Desai, L. V.; Sanford, M. S. J. Am. Chem.
Soc. 2005, 127, 7330. (b) Ackermann, L. Org. Lett. 2005, 7, 3123 and
references therein. (c) Kakiuchi, F.; Matsuura, Y.; Kan, S.; Chatani, N. J.
Am. Chem. Soc. 2005, 127, 5936 and references therein. (d) Wakui, H.;
Kawasaki, S.; Satoh, T.; Miura, M.; Nomura, M. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2004,
126, 8658 and references therein. (e) Campo, M. A.; Huang, Q.; Yao, T.;
Tian, Q.; Larock, R. C. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2003, 125, 11506. (f) Huang,
Q.; Fazio, A.; Dai, G.; Campo, M. A.; Larock, R. C. J. Am. Chem. Soc.
2004, 126, 7460. (g) Liu, Z.; Larock, R. C. Org. Lett. 2004, 6, 3739. (h)
Bedford, R. B.; Coles, S. J.; Hursthouse, M. B.; Limmert, M. E. Angew.
Chem., Int. Ed. 2003, 42, 112. (i) Oi, S.; Ogino, Y.; Fukita, S.; Inoue, Y.
Org. Lett. 2002, 4, 1783. (j) Hennings, D. D.; Iwasa, S.; Rawal, V. H. J.
Org. Chem. 1997, 62, 2.
(5) (a) Godula, K.; Sezen, B.; Sames, D. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2005, 127, 3648.
(b) Mukhopadhyay, S.; Rothenberg, G.; Gitis, D.; Baidossi, M.; Ponde, D.
E.; Sasson, Y. J. Chem. Soc., Perkin Trans. 2 2000, 1809.
(6) (a) For example, see: ref 4b. Successful reaction with simple aryl chlorides
has also been achieved in intermolecular reactions with electron-rich zinc
pyrrole anions (b) and in the formation of five-membered rings in moderate
yield (c). (b) Rieth, R. D.; Mankad, N. P.; Calimano, E.; Sadighi, J. P.
Org. Lett. 2004, 6, 3981. (c) Bedford, R. B.; Cazin, C. S. J. Chem. Commun.
2002, 2310.
Results and Discussion
As part of a research program targeted at the development
of new direct arylation reactions we sought to develop catalyst
systems that enable efficient reaction with unactivated arenes.
As a first step into the development of these processes we
explored an intramolecular variant. Although intramolecular
direct arylations with unactivated arenes were known prior to
our work, they typically suffered from low selectivity and very
low catalyst turnover numbers; indeed very high catalyst
loadings of greater than 20 mol % were frequently employed.7
Initial investigations revealed a catalyst system that enabled
selective functionalization of unactivated arenes with aryl
bromides exhibiting high catalyst activity and selectivity (eq
1).8 Encouraged by this initial discovery, the scope of this
(7) With 30 mol % catalyst: (a) Kitamura, M.; Ohmori, K.; Kawase, T.; Suzuki,
K. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 1999, 38, 1229. (b) Rice, J. E.; Cai, Z.-W.; He,
Z.-M.; LaVaoie, E. J. J. Org. Chem. 1995, 60, 8101. With 26 mol %
catalyst: (c) Hosoya, T.; Takashiro, E.; Matsumoto, T.; Suzuki, K. J. Am.
Chem. Soc. 1994, 116, 1004. With 25 mol % catalyst: (d) Matsumoto, T.;
Hosoya, T.; Suzuki, K. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1992, 114, 3568. With 20-25
mol % catalyst: (e) Cuny, G. D. Tetrahedron Lett. 2003, 44, 8149. (f)
Qabaja, G.; Jones, G. B. J. Org. Chem. 2000, 65, 7187. With as low as 10
mol % catalyst: (g) Bringmann, G.; Heubes, M.; Breuning, M.; Gobel, L.;
Ochse, M.; Schoner, B.; Schupp, O. J. Org. Chem. 2000, 65, 722. (h)
Bringmann, G.; Ochse, M.; Gotz, R. J. Org. Chem. 2000, 65, 2069. (i)
Harayama, T.; Yasuda, H. Heterocycles 1997, 46, 61. Larock has reported
a catalyst system that has been used with 5 mol % loading in analogous
processes, see ref 4e.
catalyst system with other aryl halides was investigated. While
good outcomes were obtained in the direct arylation of bromo-
arenes, inferior results were obtained with aryl chlorides.
Intriguingly, poor outcomes were also obtained with aryl iodide
substrates, despite the fact that aryl iodides are typically regarded
as providing greater reactivity in cross-coupling reactions.
Aryl Chlorides as Substrates. Significant progress has been
made in the use of aryl chlorides as substrates in palladium-
mediated cross-coupling reactions, and many reactions with aryl
chlorides can now be performed under very mild conditions.9
In contrast, direct arylation reactions rarely employ aryl chloride
substrates.6 In an initial report we described the use of
N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands for the direct arylation
of aryl chlorides.10 In subsequent studies, we discovered that
these catalysts failed to induce complete reaction when more
sterically encumbered substrates were employed.11 This limita-
tion prompted a reinvestigation of the potential catalysts capable
of performing direct arylation with aryl chlorides. Catalyst
screens were performed with aryl chloride 1 in the presence of
1 mol % Pd(OAc)2, 2 mol % ligand, and 2 equiv of K2CO3 in
dimethylacetamide (DMA) at 130 °C. Results are outlined in
Scheme 2. Triarylphosphines (3-6) as well as ortho-biaryl
phosphines (7-11) gave inferior reactivity in the direct arylation
of aryl chlorides. Better results were obtained with some
trialkylphosphines (13-15) as well as N-heterocyclic carbenes
(12). Tricyclohexylphosphine and di-tert-butylmethylphosphine
(8) Campeau, L.-C.; Parisien, M.; Leblanc, M.; Fagnou, K. J. Am. Chem. Soc.
2004, 126, 9186.
(9) For a review of palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions of aryl
chlorides, see: Littke, A. F.; Fu, G. C. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2002, 41,
4176.
(10) Campeau, L.-C.; Thansandote, P.; Fagnou, K. Org. Lett. 2005, 7, 1857.
(11) Leblanc, M.; Fagnou, K. Org. Lett. 2005, 7, 2849.
(12) Netherton, M. R.; Fu, G. C. Org. Lett. 2001, 3, 4295.
(13) (a) Martin, S. In The Alkaloids; Brossi, A., Ed.; Academic Press: New
York, 1987; Vol. 30, Chapter 3, pp 252-369. (b) Cook, J. W.; Loudon, J.
D. In The Alkaloids; Brossi, A., Ed.; Academic Press: New York, 1952;
Vol. 2, Chapter 11, p 331. (c) Lewis, J. R. Nat. Prod. Rep. 1995, 12, 339.
(14) For examples using heterocyclic arenes, see: (a) Kozikowski, A. P.; Ma,
D. Tetrahedron Lett. 1991, 32, 3317. (b) Hughes, C. C.; Trauner, D. Angew.
Chem., Int. Ed. 2002, 41, 1569. For examples using nonheteroaromatic
arenes, see: (c) Ref 11. (d) Ref 8.
(15) For a review on biologically active carbazole alkaloids, see: Kno¨lker, H.-
J.; Reddy, K. R. Chem. ReV. 2002, 102, 4303.
(16) Wolfe, J. P.; Tomori, H.; Sadighi, J. P.; Yin, J.; Buchwald, S. L. J. Org.
Chem. 2000, 65, 1158.
(17) For recent advances, see: (a) Milne, J. E.; Buchwald, S. L. J. Am. Chem.
Soc. 2005, 126, 13028. (b) Walker, S. D.; Barder, T. E.; Martinelli, J. R.;
Buchwald, S. L. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2004, 43, 1871.
(18) Punna, S.; Meunier, S.; Finn, M. G. Org. Lett. 2004, 6, 2777.
(19) Catalytic direct arylation of aryl iodides can be achieved using heteroge-
neous catalysts, see: Parisien, M.; Valette, D.; Fagnou, K. J. Org. Chem.
2005, 70, 7578.
(20) For a discussion, see: (a) Grushin, V. V.; Alper, H. In ActiVation of
UnreactiVe Bonds and Organic Synthesis; Murai, S., Ed.; Springer: Berlin,
1999; pp 193-226. (b) Grushin, V. V.; Alper, H. Chem. ReV. 1994, 94,
1047.
(21) Similarly this diminished reactivity was observed with benzothiophene:
Chabert, J. F. D.; Joucla, L.; David, E.; Lemaire, M. Tetrahedron 2004,
60, 3221.
(22) Pivsa-Art, S.; Satoh, T.; Kawamura, Y.; Miura, M.; Nomura, M. Bull. Chem.
Soc. Jpn. 1998, 71, 467.
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