A new method for the regioselective three component cross-coupling reaction of alkyl halides, 1,3-butadienes, and aryl-Grignard reagents has been developed by the use of a nickel catalyst. This reaction proceeds efficiently at 25 8C using (dppf) NiCl 2 as a catalyst. Alkyl chlorides, bromides, and iodides can be used as suitable alkylating reagents. The reaction also proceeds when arylzinc halides are used instead of Grignard reagents. Competitive reactions of a mixture of primary, secondary, and tertiary alkyl bromides showed that the reactivities of the halides increase in the order primary < secondary < tertiary. A possible reaction pathway involving single electron transfer from a nickelate complex to alkyl halides is proposed.Keywords: alkyl halides; butadiene; C À C bond formation; cross-coupling; Grignard reagents; multicomponent reactions; nickelThe transition metal catalyzed coupling reaction of organic halides with organometallic reagents or alkenes has been extensively studied and employed in wide areas of organic synthesis.[1] These types of reactions are initiated generally by the oxidative addition of halides to low-valent metals such as Ni 0 and Pd 0 and the scope of the halides as substrates has been limited to aryl, vinyl, allyl, and benzyl halides, [2,3] partly, due to the slow oxidative addition of alkyl halides to metal complexes. Facile b-elimination from the alkylmetal intermediates also restricted the application of alkyl halides. In pursuit of finding novel uses for alkyl halides in transition metal catalyzed reaction, we have recently developed a new type of Ni [4] or Pd [5] catalyzed crosscoupling reaction of alkyl halides with Grignard reagents in the presence of 1,3-butadiene where bisallylmetalate complexes play important roles as active catalytic species. When we examined this reaction using [(dppf)NiCl 2 ], we found an unprecedented three component coupling reaction of alkyl halides, 1,3-butadienes, and arylmagnesium or arylzinc reagents [Eq. (1)].
ð1ÞFor example, into a mixture of isopropyl bromide (1.2 mmol), 2,3-dimethyl-1,3-butadiene (1 mmol), and [(dppf)NiCl 2 ] (0.08 mmol) was added a THF solution of PhMgBr (1.5 mmol, 1.5 mL). The solution was stirred at 25 8C for 24 h. Usual work-up and NMR analysis of the crude mixture indicated the formation of a coupling product 4b (R ¼ i-Pr, R' ¼ Me, R'' ¼ H, Ar ¼ Ph) bearing isopropyl and phenyl groups at the terminal carbons of the 1,3-butadiene unit in 99% yield by NMR (E/Z ¼ 67/33) ( Table 1, run 2). The product was obtained in pure form in 91% yield by recycling preparative HPLC using CHCl 3 as an eluent. Neither regioisomers of 4b nor isopropylbenzene (direct coupling product of i-PrBr with PhMgBr) were formed. The elongation of reaction time did not lead to isomerization of the double bond of the product.