Palladium-Catalyzed α-Arylation of Cycloalkanones with Sterically Hindered Bromoazines under Neat Conditions

Abstract The palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling of cycloalkanones with a range of heteroaryl bromides is described herein. The transformation proceeds best with third-generation tris-tBu-phosphine Pd pre-catalyst in neat cycloalkanones. Careful screening of the reaction conditions revealed K3PO4 as an effective weak and mild base thereby tolerating base-sensitive functional groups such as acetals or nitrogen protecting groups. Moderate to good yields were achieved for a series of 29 examples with various degrees of structural complexity. Importantly, these optimized conditions allow the α-(hetero)aryl cross-coupling of ortho-substituted (hetero)aryl bromide substrates with different cyclo­alkanones that typically failed to react efficiently under previously reported conditions.