Angewandte
Communications
Chemie
was unclear whether such a reaction could be developed.[11]
Second, the initially formed O-aryl oximes could participate
in unproductive side-reactions, as Pd0 has been shown to
[12]
À
oxidatively insert into the N O bond of oximes. Finally, it
was unclear how facile the syn-elimination would occur with
unactivated aryloxy groups under mildly basic reaction
conditions (Scheme 1B).[10]
In order to develop the proposed reaction, we carried out
several high-throughput experiments. We chose to investigate
reactions with 1, as this substrate contains a reactive aliphatic
ester, and an aryl fluoride that can undergo SNAr reactions. Of
particular importance, this substrate underwent complete
ester hydrolysis even under the mildest conditions[4] reported
for the Pd-catalyzed hydroxylation of aryl halides (CsOH, rt).
After initial screening of solvents, bases, temperatures, and
stoichiometries, we performed 96 experiments where we
investigated the most promising leads of: two bases (Cs2CO3,
K3PO4), two solvents (DMF, 2-MeTHF), along with 24 Pd G3
precatalysts (Scheme 2 and Supporting Information). The
Scheme 3. General scope for the conversion of aryl halides to phenols
with benzaldoxime. Reactions were performed on 1.0 mmol scale with
RockPhos Pd G3 as the precatalyst. [a] tBuBrettPhos Pd G3 was used
as the precatalyst. Yields were determined by HPLC against authentic
product standards. Isolated yield shown in parentheses. Catalyst
loadings and reaction times were not optimized for each substrate.
to couple both aryl bromides and chlorides (Scheme 3). As
shown, the reaction provides the phenol products in high
yields in the presence of esters, ketones, aldehydes, nitriles,
and common heterocycles. Ortho-alkyl substituted aryl hal-
ides coupled in modest yield (65%) with RockPhos as the
ligand, however, switching to the less bulky tBuBrettPhos
ligand allowed for the coupling of 2-bromotoluene in 88%
yield.
Monitoring the catalytic reactions by HPLC revealed that
intermediate species were present at 3–10% relative to the
starting concentration of the aryl halide. The mass spectrum
of the intermediate was obtained by LC/MS analysis of
a reaction with bromobenzene, and was consistent with the
proposed O-aryloxime species. To confirm the identity, O-
phenyl benzaldoxime was prepared from the condensation of
O-phenylhydroxylamine with benzaldehyde (Scheme 4A).
This species was identical by HPLC and LC/MS analysis to
the species observed during a reaction with bromobenzene as
the substrate under our catalytic reaction conditions. The
isolated oxime reacted with Cs2CO3 in DMF at 808C over
30 minutes with the formation of equimolar amounts of
PhOH and PhCN in quantitative yield. In all of our
hydroxylation reactions, an equimolar amount of benzonitrile
and the phenol product was observed. Control reactions
confirmed that phenol is not formed in the absence of
benzaldoxime or the Pd precatalyst. Taken together, these
results are consistent with a mechanism proceeding via the
Pd-catalyzed formation of O-aryl benzaldoxime species,
followed by Cs2CO3-mediated elimination to form the
phenol product and benzonitrile. Performing the Pd-cata-
lyzed reaction with toluene in place of DMF suppressed the
Scheme 2. High-throughput reaction development. Reaction condi-
tions: 5.0 mmol of 1, 1.3 equiv benzaldehyde oxime, 2.2 equiv of base,
5 mol% Pd G3 precatalyst, solvent (0.2m), 808C, 18 h. Structures of
all 24 precatalysts investigated are illustrated in the Supporting
Information. Yields were determined by HPLC against an authentic
product standard.
combination of Pd/RockPhos, Cs2CO3, and DMF provided
the product in 95% assay yield. Critically, less than 1% of
ester hydrolysis or SNAr displacement of the aryl fluoride was
observed. Reactions performed with a combination of
[(allyl)PdCl]2 or Pd2(dba)3 with RockPhos provided similar
results to those performed with RockPhos Pd G3 precatalyst.
K3PO4 could be used in place of Cs2CO3 with a slight decrease
in the yield of 2 (73% yield). RockPhos/Pd-catalyzed
reactions conducted in 2-MeTHF also provided the phenol
product in synthetically useful yields with either Cs2CO3
(86% yield) or K3PO4 (73% yield).
After lowering the catalyst loading and increasing the
reaction concentration, we explored the generality of the
reaction with respect to the inherent properties of the aryl
halide, tolerance of common functional groups, and the ability
2
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Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2017, 56, 1 – 6
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