Iminophosphine–palladium(0) complexes as highly active catalysts in the Suzuki reaction. Synthesis of undecaaryl substituted corroles

The iminophosphine–palladium(0) complex [Pd(dmfu)(P-N)] [dmfu=dimethyl fumarate; P-N=2-(PPh2)C6H4-1-CHNC6H4-4-OMe] is a very efficient catalyst for the Suzuki coupling. In the reaction of aryl bromides with phenylboronic acid, turnover numbers up to ca. 200,000 are obtained at 110 °C in 2 h. Good rates are obtained also with the sterically hindered and electronically deactivated 2-bromo-1,3,5-trimethylbenzene. The complex is able to catalyze the exhaustive arylation of 2,3,7,8,12,13,17,18-octabromo-5,10,15-triphenylcorroleCu(III) to yield the corresponding undecaaryl substituted derivative.