Hydrodehalogenation of organic halides using the CuCl2·2H2O-Li-arene(cat.) combination Original Research Article

The hydrodehalogenation of alkyl and aryl halides was efficiently performed using a reducing system composed of CuCl2·2H2O, an excess of lithium sand and a catalytic amount (5 mol%) of 4,4′-di-tert-butylbiphenyl (DTBB) as electron carrier, in tetrahydrofuran at room temperature. The reaction of a series of alkyl and aryl fluorides, chlorides, bromides, and iodides with this combination led to the formation of the corresponding products resulting from a halogen/hydrogen exchange. The use of deuterium oxide instead of water in the copper salt allowed the preparation of the corresponding deuterated products.