Arylation of Amines in Alkane Solvents by using Well-Defined Palladium-N-Heterocyclic Carbene Complexes

The use of the ITent-based series of Pd-N-heterocyclic carbenes precatalysts (Tent= Tentacular) enables the Buchwald-Hartwig amine arylation reaction in apolar alkane solvents. The use of such solvents is rare because of their poor solvation properties. Nonetheless, they could be of interest for industrial applications, as they can be disposed of in an energetically favorable manner and may potentially simplify product isolation. The excellent solubility of the precatalysts permitted the desired products to be obtained in yields ranging from 75 to 96%, even with deactivated and functionalized coupling partners.