Cross coupling reactions of aryl sul des are more dif cult than they look. We have disclosed that transition metal NHC complexes allow us to ef ciently use a wide range of aryl sul des as electrophilic coupling partners in various cross coupling reactions and have thus signi cantly expanded the scope of aryl suldes available for the cross coupling technology. Newly introduced nucleophilic partners include arylzinc reagents, Grignard reagents such as alkynylmagnesium species, amines, ketimines, and diborons to achieve Negishi type coupling, Kumada Tamao Corriu type coupling, Buchwald Hartwig type amination, Buchwald Hartwig Miura type carbonyl α arylation, and Miyaura type borylation, respectively. These cross coupling reactions are particularly advantageous when combined with sulfur speci c transformations to prepare organosulfur substrates. Through the development of catalytic transformations of C S bonds, sulfur based organic synthesis has come to complement conventional halogen based organic methodology.