Palladium-catalysed direct 3- or 4-arylation of thiophene derivatives using aryl bromides

The palladium-catalysed direct 3- or 4-arylation of 2,5-disubstituted thiophenes using aryl bromides gives a simple access to a variety of 3- or 4-arylthiophene derivatives. Moderate to good yields of 3-arylated thiophenes were obtained using 2,5-dimethylthiophene. In the presence of unsymmetrically disubstituted, 2-acetyl-5-methylthiophene, a regioselective arylation on carbon 4 of thiophene was observed. This reaction provides only HX associated to the base as by-product and reduces the number of steps to prepare these compounds.