Highly efficient nickel/phosphine catalyzed cross-couplings of diarylborinic acids with aryl tosylates and sulfamates

Highly efficient cross-couplings of diarylborinic acids with aryl tosylates and sulfamates are reported for construction of biaryls using a tri(4-methoxyphenyl)phosphine-supported nickel catalyst system: Ni[P(4-MeOC6H4)3]2Cl2/2P(4-MeOC6H4)3 in the presence of K3PO4·3H2O in toluene. A variety of unsymmetrical biaryls could be obtained in good to excellent yields with 1.5–3 mol% or 3–5 mol% catalyst loadings for aryl sulfamates and tosylates, respectively. In sharp contrast to the conventional nickel-catalyzed Suzuki coupling with arylboronic acids, arylsulfamates unexpectedly displayed a higher reactivity than the corresponding tosylates in coupling with diarylborinic acids catalyzed by the nickel/phosphine catalyst system.