A convenient method for preparing aromatic ketones from acyl chlorides and arylboronic acids via Suzuki–Miyaura type coupling reaction

Aromatic ketones are synthesized efficiently via palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction of boronic acids with acyl chlorides in the presence of K3PO4 hydrate in toluene. This allows the use of aliphatic acyl chlorides as the starting material. Hydrated water plays a significant role as an H2O source to activate the catalytic system.