Microwave-Promoted TBAF-Catalyzed SNAr Reaction of Aryl Fluorides and ArSTMS: An Efficient Synthesis of Unsymmetrical Diaryl Thioethers.

Microwave irradiation was found to promote tetrabutylammonium fluoride catalyzed nucleophilic aromatic substitution of aryl fluorides and arylthiotrimethylsilanes, affording high yields of unsymmetrical diaryl thioethers efficiently under mild, transitionmetal-and base-free conditions. Microwave showed unusual improvement on the reaction in not only the conditions and reaction rate, but also in selectivity and substrate scope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]