Nickel-Catalyzed Reductive Arylalkylation via a Migratory Insertion/Decarboxylative Cross-Coupling Cascade

Reported is a nickel-catalyzed reductive arylalkylation of unactivated alkenes tethered to aryl iodides with redox active N-hydroxyphthalimide esters as the alkyl source through successful merging of migratory insertion and decarboxylative cross-coupling in a cascade. This new method avoids the use of pregenerated organometallic reagents and thus enables the synthesis of diverse benzene-fused carbo- and heterocyclic compounds with high tolerance of a wide range of functional groups.