Sonogashira reaction of aryl halides with propiolaldehyde diethyl acetal catalyzed by a tetraphosphine/palladium complex

All-cis-1,2,3,4-Tetrakis(diphenylphosphinomethyl)cyclopentane/[PdCl(C3H5)]2 efficiently catalyzes the Sonogashira reaction of propiolaldehyde diethyl acetal with a variety of aryl bromides and chlorides. A minor electronic effect of the substituents of the aryl bromide was observed. Similar reaction rates were observed in the presence of activated aryl bromides such as 4-trifluoromethylbromobenzene and deactivated aryl bromides such as bromoanisole. Turnover numbers up to 95,000 can be obtained for this reaction. Even aryl chlorides and heteroarylbromides or chlorides have been successfully alkynylated with this catalyst. Moreover, a wide variety of substituents on the aryl halide such as fluoro, trifluoromethyl, acetyl, benzoyl, formyl, nitro, dimethylamino or nitrile are tolerated.