Arene synthesis has been revolutionized by the invention of catalytic cross-coupling reactions, wherein aryl halides can be coupled with organometallic and organic nucleophiles. Although the replacement of aryl halides with phenol derivatives would lead to more economical and ecological methods, success has been primarily limited to activated phenol derivatives such as triflates. Aryl ethers arguably represent one of the most ideal substrates in terms of availability, cost, safety, and atom efficiency. However, the robust nature of the C(aryl)-O bonds of aryl ethers renders it extremely difficult to use them in catalytic reactions among the phenol derivatives. In 1979, Wenkert reported a seminal work on the nickel-catalyzed cross-coupling of aryl ethers with Grignard reagents. However, it was not until 2004 that the unique ability of a low-valent nickel species to activate otherwise unreactive C(aryl)-O bonds was appreciated with Dankwardt's identification of the Ni(0)/PCy3 system, which significantly expanded the efficiency of the Wenkert reaction. Application of the nickel catalyst to cross-couplings with other nucleophiles was first accomplished in 2008 by our group using organoboron reagents. Later on, several other nucleophiles, including organozinc reagents, amines, hydrosilane, and hydrogen were shown to be coupled with aryl ethers under nickel catalysis. Despite these advances, progress in this field is relatively slow because of the low reactivity of benzene derivatives (e.g., anisole) compared with polyaromatic substrates (e.g., methoxynaphthalene), particularly when less reactive and synthetically useful nucleophiles are used. The "naphthalene problem" has been overcome by the use of N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands bearing bulky N-alkyl substituents, which enables a wide range of aryl ethers to be coupled with organoboron nucleophiles. Moreover, the use of N-alkyl-substituted NHC ligands allows the use of alkynylmagnesium reagents, thereby realizing the first Sonogashira-type reaction of anisoles. From a mechanistic perspective, nickel-catalyzed cross-couplings of aryl ethers are at a nascent stage, in particular regarding the mode of activation of C(aryl)-O bonds. Oxidative addition is one plausible pathway, although such a process has not been fully verified experimentally. Nickel-catalyzed reductive cleavage of aryl ethers in the absence of an external reducing agent provides strong support for this oxidative addition process. Several other mechanisms have also been proposed. For example, Martin demonstrated a new possibility of the involvement of a Ni(I) species, which could mediate the cleavage of the C(aryl)-O bond via a redox-neutral pathway. The tolerance of aryl ethers under commonly used synthetic conditions enables alkoxy groups to serve as a platform for late-stage elaboration of complex molecules without any tedious protecting group manipulations. Aryl ethers are therefore not mere economical alternatives to aryl halides but also enable nonclassical synthetic strategies.

To COMe and go: The title reaction, involving cleavage of a COMe bond, is demonstrated for the coupling of aryl methyl ethers on fused aromatic systems, such as naphthalene and phenanthrene, as well as anisoles containing electron‐withdrawing groups with a wide range of boronic esters. cod=cycloocta‐1,5‐diene, Cy=cyclohexyl.

The catalytic reactions that involve the cleavage of C-CN bonds and carbon-carbon triple bonds are described in this tutorial review. Regarding the cleavage of a C-CN bond, the catalytic reaction can proceed by two different mechanisms: oxidative addition and deinsertion of silyl isocyanide. A carbon-carbon triple bond can be cleaved in the absence of an organic promoter via the formation of unique organometallic species, such as allenylidene and cyclopropyl carbenoid complexes.

A rhodium-catalyzed silylation reaction of carbon-cyano bonds using disilane has been developed. Under these catalytic conditions, carbon-cyano bonds in aryl, alkenyl, allyl, and benzyl cyanides bearing a variety of functional groups can be silylated. The observation of an enamine side product in the silylation of benzyl cyanides and related stoichiometric studies indicate that the carbon-cyano bond cleavage proceeds through the deinsertion of silyl isocyanide from eta(2)-iminoacyl complex B. Knowledge gained from these studies has led to the development of a new intramolecular biaryl coupling reaction in which aryl cyanides and aryl chlorides are cross-coupled.

The first catalytic alkynylation of unactivated C(sp(3))-H bonds has been accomplished. The method allows for the straightforward introduction of an ethynyl group into aliphatic acid derivatives under palladium catalysis. This new reaction can be applied to the rapid elaboration of complex aliphatic acids, for example, via azide/alkyne cycloaddition.

Two protocols for the nickel-catalyzed cross-coupling of aryl fluorides with aryl boronic esters have been developed. The first employs metal fluoride cocatalysts, such as ZrF(4) and TiF(4), which enable Suzuki-Miyaura reactions of aryl fluorides bearing electron-withdrawing (ketones, esters, and CF(3)), aryl and alkenyl groups as well as those comprising fused aromatic rings, such as fluoronaphthalenes and fluoroquinolines. The second protocol employs aryl fluorides bearing ortho-directing groups, which facilitate the difficult C-F bond activation process via cyclometalation. N-heterocycles, such as pyridines, quinolines, pyrazoles, and oxazolines, can successfully promote cross-coupling with an array of organoboronic esters. A study into the substituent effects with respect to both coupling components has provided fundamental insights into the mechanism of the nickel-catalyzed cross-coupling of aryl fluorides.

The reaction of electron-deficient N-heteroaromatic compounds, such as pyridines and quinolines, with arylzinc reagents in the presence of a catalytic amount of a nickel complex affords the arylated products. The reaction is likely to proceed through a formal nucleophilic 1,2-addition, thus exhibiting a reactivity complementary to conventional direct arylation through electrophilic substitution.

Nickel(0)-catalyzed cross-coupling of methoxyarenes through C-O bond activation has been the subject of considerable research because of their favorable features compared with those of the cross-coupling of aryl halides, such as atom economy and efficiency. In 2008, we have reported nickel/PCy-catalyzed cross-coupling of methoxyarenes with arylboronic esters in which the addition of a stoichiometric base such as CsF is essential for the reaction to proceed. Recently, we have also found that the scope of the substrate in the Suzuki-Miyaura-type cross-coupling of methoxyarenes can be greatly expanded by using 1,3-dicyclohexylimidazol-2-ylidene (ICy) as the ligand. Interestingly, a stoichiometric amount of external base is not required for the nickel/ICy-catalyzed cross-coupling. For the mechanism and origin of the effect of the external base to be elucidated, density functional theory calculations are conducted. In the nickel/PCy-catalyzed reactions, the activation energy for the oxidative addition of the C(aryl)-OMe bond is too high to occur under the catalytic conditions. However, the oxidative addition process becomes energetically feasible when CsF and an arylboronic ester interact with a Ni(PCy)/methoxyarene fragment to form a quaternary complex. In the nickel/ICy-catalyzed reactions, the oxidative addition of the C(aryl)-OMe bond can proceed more easily without the aid of CsF because the nickel-ligand bonds are stronger and therefore stabilize the transition state. The subsequent transmetalation from an Ar-Ni-OMe intermediate is determined to proceed through a pathway with lower energies than those required for β-hydrogen elimination. The overall driving force of the reaction is the reductive elimination to form the carbon-carbon bond.