The hydrogenolysis of polymer-bound arenesulfonates by 2-propylmagnesium chloride was performed through reductive cleavage of the C−S bond in the presence of a nickel catalyst. The reaction underwent in the highest efficiency by adding 15 equiv of the nucleophile in two additions with dppfNiCl 2 in THF. Various unfunctionalized naphthalene, biphenyl, and stilbene derivatives were produced in good yields by the traceless sulfonate linker system at room temperature.

Neopentyl arenesulfonates react with secondary alkylmagnesium chlorides in the presence of dppfNiCl2 to produce the corresponding arenes via the reductive cleavage of carbon-sulfur bond. Highest yield is obtained by using three equivalents of Grignard reagent to a mixture of arenesulfonate and dppfNiCl2 in Et2O at room temperature. This reaction represents a novel method allowing the efficient hydrogenolysis of sulfur-containing groups in aromatic compounds.

Unfunctionalized biaryl compounds were parallelly and combinatorially prepared by the traceless hydrogenolysis of biarylsulfonates supported on pentaerythritol. The hydrogenolysis using 2-propylmagnesium chloride in the presence of dppfNiCl2 efficiently generated corresponding biaryl derivatives without any memory of the support. The strategy using pentaerythritol as a small soluble support was disclosed to have a potential to combine the benefits of both SPOS and solution-phase reaction with fast reaction rate, facile isolation of intermediates, easy analysis of intermediates and atom economical manner. The novel tetrapodal support is expected to be an efficient substitute for polymeric supports in many circumstances.