Iron catalyzed cross coupling reactions of aromatic compounds

Abstract

A process for the production of compounds Ar—Rby means of a cross-coupling reaction of an organometallic reagent R-M with an aromatic or heteroaromatic substrate Ar—X catalyzed by one or several iron salts or iron complexes as catalysts or pre-catalysts, present homogeneously or heterogeneously in the reaction mixture. This new invention exhibits substantial advantages over established cross coupling methodology using palladium- or nickel complexes as the catalysts. Most notable aspects are the fact that (i) expensive and/or toxic nobel metal catalysts are replaced by cheap, stable, commercially available and toxicologically benign iron salts or iron complexes as the catalysts or pre-catalysts, (ii) commercially attractive aryl chlorides as well as various aryl sulfonates can be used as starting materials, (iii) the reaction can be performed under 'ligand-free' conditons, and (iv) the reaction times are usually very short.