Vanadium(IV) tetrachloride catalyzed oxidative homo-coupling of aryl lithium under mild reaction condition

A novel efficient strategy to prepare symmetrical diaryls via VCl4 catalyzed homo-coupling of aryl lithium has been developed. In which, organometallic reagent n-BuLi was applied as the strong base to form aryl lithium from aryl halogen in anhydrous diethyl ether, then it was followed by the addition of catalytic amount of VCl4 at room temperature to afford diaryls. All the diaryls have been characterized by 1H and 13C NMR.