P,N-Type benzimidazolyl phosphine ligands for the palladium-catalyzed Suzuki coupling of potassium aryltrifluoroborates and aryl chlorides

This study describes the efficacy of P,N-type benzimidazolyl phosphine ligands, which can be easily synthesized from commercially available and inexpensive starting materials. The application of this ligand array in palladium-catalyzed Suzuki–Miyaura coupling reaction of aryl chlorides with potassium aryltrifluoroborates is described. The air stable benzimidazolyl phosphines in combination with a palladium metal precursor provides highly effective catalysts for the Suzuki–Miyaura coupling of unactivated aryl chlorides and can achieve a catalyst loading of only 0.05 mol %.