Hetero-Substituted Arenes

All o-hetero-substituted arylmetals and aryl electrophiles (1) as well as heteroaromatic compounds represented by 2 and 3 are /3-hetero-substituted aryl derivatives. In most cases, /3-heteroatoms merely exert some rate-enhancing or -retarding influences on the Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling process. In some cases, however, their presence offers additional synthetic opportunities of potential significance. Synthesis of arene-fused heterocyclic compounds is particularly noteworthy, as indicated by the results presented below. However, most of the known examples involve cross-coupling-heteropalladation tandem processes, which are also discussed in Sect. V.3. So, they are very briefly mentioned in this section. 

Whether the reaction is inter- or intramolecular, the Heck reaction generates vinyl(hetero)arenes or dienes from an alkene and a (hetero)aryl or alkenyl halide [130]. This reaction has great versatility and is applicable to a wide range of aryl and alkene species. Mechanistically, the Heck reaction varies from that depicted in Fig. 4.3. While the oxidative addition of the halogen species occurs, the transmetalation step is replaced by the coordination of the alkene. This is followed by a migratory insertion which essentially substitutes for the cross-coupling step. The product is released not by a reductive elimination, but by a 3-hydride elimination sequence (Fig. 4.5). 

Calix[n]arenes are cyclic condensation products of para-substituted phenol derivatives and formaldehyde [29], They are highly interesting for the development of sensitive coatings due to their conformational flexibility and the ease by which they may be modified chemically. Chemical modification can be done either in the meta position, or by reactions at the hydroxy group. In this way, bulky substituents [30], chelating substituents [31], aromatic residues [32], crown ethers [33,34], peptides [35,36], etc. can be introduced. A first approach to combinatorial synthesis of calix[4]arene receptors has been published by Reinhoudt and co-workers [37,38], who prepared calixarenes with different substituents. In solution, these calixarenes lead to formation of hetero-oligomers with barbiturates, and these hetero-oligomers were detected by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and H-NMR spectroscopy. 

The scope of this reaction is limited to electron-rich arenes and heteroarenes such as thiophenes, pyrroles, furans, indoles, and alkoxybenzenes as nucleophilic partners, corresponding to a Mayr ir-nucleophilicily parameter N>-1 [75-78], Electron-neutral to electron-deficient iodo(hetero)arenes are suitable electrophilic partners. Aryl halides or pseudohalides that are less reactive towards oxidative addition (Br, Cl, OTf) are not sufficiently reactive partners in this reaction. The reactivity of sterically hindered and/or ortho substituted iodoarenes has not been demonstrated. However biaryls bearing one ortho substituent of relatively small steric demand (e.g., from methoxybenzene or /V-mcthylindole) have been prepared. 

Intermolecular dehydrogenative oxidative homocouplings of (hetero)arenes turned out to be among the most important methods for the synthesis of symmetrically substituted biaryls [122]. A recent illustrative example is oxidative coupling reactions of 2-naphthols, which were accomplished in an asymmetric fashion employing an inexpensive iron catalyst (Scheme 9.47) [123]. 

A review of the photochemistry of alkaloids includes reactions in which addition to an aromatic compound or substitution in an aromatic ring occurs. The second part of a review of the thermal and photochemical addition of dienophiles to arenes and their vinyl- and hetero-analogues covers additions to styrenes, stilbenes, and related systems. 

Although palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions provide an efficient entry to C-arylated indoles, these reactions require the preparation of functionalized hetero-arenes such as boronates and halides. Therefore, C-arylation reactions of azole and related heteroarenes via direct C-H bond functionalization of the parent heteroar-enes would be much more favorable. In 2004, Sames reported a selective palladium-catalyzed C2-arylation of W-substituted indoles via direct C—H bond arylation [199]. Use CsOAc as the base and low concentration of the substrates proved to be critical for the success of this methodology. 

Syntheses of Substituted (Hetero)Arenes, and the Contents of this Book 3... 

Modern aspects of electrophilic aromatic substitution chemistry address the development of enantioselective variants of these direct (hetero)arene functionalization reactions. For example, enantiomerically enriched metal catalysts, as well as organocatalysts, allowed for the asymmetric addition reactions of (hetero)arenes onto (a,P-unsaturated) carbonyl compounds. Additionally, highly enantioselective arylations of carbonyl compounds were accomplished with organometallic reagents... 

While electrophilic substitution reactions enabled the direct functionalizations of (hetero)arenes, Fittig observed, during the nineteenth century, that halogenated arenes could be employed for the preparation of alkylated arenes in the presence of sodium under Wurtz s reaction conditions [24—26]. 

The radical alkylation of protonated heteroaromatic compounds-the so-called Minisci reaction-has been intensively investigated [2e, g, 111]. Protonated hetero-arenes are electron-deficient substrates, which react with nucleophilic radicals with high regioselectivity to yield the corresponding homolytic aromahc substitution products. For para-substituted pyridine derivatives the reaction occurs with complete regioselectivity at the 2-position, whereas for nonprotonated pyridines, arylations occur with low regioselectivity and in low yields. 

Pd-catalyzed site-selective cross-coupling reactions demonstrate the influential role of ligands in transition metal catalysis. The reactions described in this review discuss efficient approaches to introduce various substituents at specific halo-substituted posititMis (Ml (hetero)aromatic compounds. The commercial availability of a variety of dihalo-substituted starting materials makes site-selective crosscoupling reactions practical for the rapid production of diverse (hetero)arenes with multiple substituents. In all examples described here, the reactions proceeded successfully only on substrates containing hetero atoms, and this field of chemistry aims to include substrates without hetero atoms in the substrate scope. 

Examples of the C-H/C-H homocoupling of simple arenes have remained limited because of their low reactivity and poor selectivity. However, the reactivity and selectivity of these C-H/C-H coupling methods can be enhanced by directing groups (Scheme 17.41). In 2006, Sanford [196a] reported that a C-H/C-H homocoupling of 2-pyridyl-substituted (hetero)arenes can be promoted by catalytic Pd(OAc)2 and oxone in i-PrOH. 

In addition to benzylations, palladium-catalyzed C-H allylation reactions have also been described, but they usually involve the electrophilic substitution of an electron-rich (hetero)arene with a 7t-allyl palladium complex and therefore deviate from the scope of this chapter [41, 42]. In contrast, the palladium/copper-catalyzed allylation of polyfluoroarenes with allyl carbonates (Scheme 19.27) has been reported to occur through a different mechanism [43]. Thus, base-induced cupration of the arene would give rise to intermediate 15 that was previously characterized by X-ray crystallography [44]. Attack of the in sitw-generated JT-allyl... 

The mechanism of direct arylation has been studied experimentally and computationally and possible pathways include electrophilic aromatic substitution, Heck-type coupling and concerted metalation-deprotonation (CMD). The reaction pathway is dependent on the substrate and the catalytic system employed,however, most electron-rich (hetero)arenes seem to follow a base-assisted CMD pathway. Two catalytic cycles for the coupling of bromo-benzene and thiophene are shown in Schemes 19.5 and 19.6. Scheme 19.5 depicts a carboxylate-mediated process where C-H activation occurs... 

In contrast to the oxidative addition mechanism proposed by Chatt several researchers, based on their observations for C H bond activation of unactivated alkanes and (hetero)arenes, proposed an electrophilic substitution mechanism to be operating in such systems. Besides the two types of mechanisms mentioned above, few others have also been suggested and will be discussed in details in the subsequent sections. 

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