C−C reductive elimination from [PdL 2 (C 6 F 5 ) 2 ] to form polyfluorinated biaryls has been a challenge for over 50 years. Thus, palladium-catalyzed homocoupling of arylboronates (Ar F − Bpin) containing two ortho-fluorine substituents is very difficult, as the reaction typically stops at the [PdL 2 (Ar F ) 2 ] stage after two transmetalation steps. The transmetalated complexes cis-[Pd-and cis-[Pd(MeCN) 2 (2,6-C 6 F 2 H 3 ) 2 ] (3e) have been isolated from the reaction of Ar F −Bpin with Pd(OAc) 2 in acetonitrile solvent, with no homocoupling observed. However, catalytic homocoupling proceeds smoothly in a "weakly coordinating" arene solvent as long as no ancillary ligands or coordinating solvents are present. DFT computations reveal that the active catalyst formed by arene solvent coordination leads to an overall reduced barrier for the reductive elimination step compared to the formation of stable [PdL 2 (Ar F ) 2 ] complexes in the presence of a donor ligand or solvent L.

Organoboron compounds are well known building blocks for many organic reactions. However, under basic conditions, polyfluorinated aryl boronic acid derivatives suffer from instability issues that are accelerated in compounds containing an ortho‐fluorine group, which result in the formation of the corresponding protodeboronation products. Therefore, a considerable amount of research has focused on novel methodologies to synthesize these valuable compounds while avoiding the protodeboronation issue. This review summarizes the latest developments in the synthesis of fluorinated aryl boronic acid derivatives and their applications in cross‐coupling reactions and other transformations.

A combination of copper iodide and phenanthroline as the ligand is an efficient catalyst for Suzuki‐Miyaura cross‐coupling of highly fluorinated boronate esters (aryl−Bpin) with aryl iodides and bromides to generate fluorinated biaryls in good to excellent yields. This method represents a nice alternative to traditional cross‐coupling methods which require palladium catalysts and stoichiometric amounts of silver oxide. We note that π⋅⋅⋅π stacking interactions dominate the molecular packing in the partly fluorinated biaryl crystals investigated herein. They are present either between the arene and perfluoroarene, or solely between arenes or perfluoroarenes, respectively.