Nickel- and Palladium-Catalyzed Homocoupling of Aryl Triflates. Scope, Limitation, and Mechanistic Aspects

Whereas the direct reduction of aryl triflates affords mainly phenols and some arenes, the presence of a catalytic amount of palladium or nickel results in the formation of biaryls. The homocoupling is performed in the presence of an electron source, either a cathode or zinc powder. A judicious choice of the metal (nickel or palladium), the ligand (monodentate or bidentate phosphine), and the reduction process (electrochemical or chemical) allows the synthesis of functional symmetrical biaryls. Nickel and palladium complexes ligated by bidentate ligands such as NiCl(2)(dppf) and Pd(OAc)(2) + 1 BINAP are very efficient for the homocoupling of 1-naphthyl triflate, since the dimer was obtained in almost quantitative yield. However, the homocoupling is sensitive to steric hindrance, excluding for the moment the synthesis of atropisomers. The homocoupling proceeds via an activation of the C-O bond of the aryl triflate by a palladium(0) (or a nickel(0)) complex, providing an intermediate arylpalladium(II) (or nickel(II)) complex that after activation by electron transfer affords a new complex able to undergo a second oxidative addition with the aryl triflates.