Amination of Base-Sensitive Aryl Halides

Indoles, pyrroles and carbazoles themselves are suitable substrates for palladium-catalyzed amination. An initial study of this reaction using DPPF-ligated palladium as catalyst showed that these reactions occurred readily with electron-poor aryl halides. With unactivated aryl bromides, the reaction with pyrrole or indole resulted in good yield, but reaction times were long and the temperature was 120 °C. Thus, an improved catalyst system was necessary for reactions to occur in a more general fashion and with temperature- or base-sensitive substrates. 

The use of a strong base in the palladium-catalyzed amination of aryl halides precludes the use of many substrates, such as those with aromatic nitro groups or enolizable hydrogens, esters other than tert-butyl esters, and many substrates with base-sensitive stereochemistry such as some protected amino acids and heterocyclic substrates [191]. Thus, conditions that employ milder bases are required. A solution that involves reaction temperatures as low as those used for reactions conducted with sodium tert-butoxide has not been developed. However, carbonate and phosphate bases can be used with certain catalysts at reaction temperatures comparable to those of reactions involving the first- and second-generation catalysts. 

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