Noncross Coupling Route to Biaryls and Heterobiaryls via Iodoarylation of Arynes

Abstract A noncross coupling route to substituted biaryls and heterobiaryls has been developed through the iodoarylation of aryne. Importantly, ArLi serves as an efficient initiator for the catalytic generation of aryne and various aryl and heteroaryl groups are selectively introduced to the aromatic ring affording synthetically attractive iodobiaryl compounds. The regioselective synthesis of m ‐terphenyl with potential utility as functional materials has also been achieved via the iterative iodoarylation of bis(benzdiyne) equivalent.