Simultaneous reduction of nitro- to amino-group in the palladium-catalyzed Suzuki cross-coupling reaction

An efficient method for palladium-catalyzed Suzuki cross-coupling reaction with simultaneous reduction of nitro- to amino-group has been developed. This method allows nitro-substituted aryl halides to readily react with arylboronic acids, to afford aryl substituted aniline in low to excellent yields. The reaction was catalyzed by Pd(OAc)2 (3 mol %) at 150 °C under atmospheric pressure in the presence of K2CO3 (3 equiv) in DMF/H2O (5/1).