A general rhodium-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction of thiols with aryl iodides

The general procedure for the rhodium-catalyzed cross-coupling of thiols with aryl iodides is described. The catalytic system consists of 5 mol % of [RhCl(cod)]2 and 10 mol % of PPh3 as a ligand. A variety of aryl iodides reacted with thiols, giving aryl thioethers in good to excellent yields. It is important to note that the deactivated aryl iodides such as 4-iodoanisole is worked smoothly to provide the corresponding aryl thioethers in excellent yields. Functional groups such as free-amines, chloro, are all tolerated under the employed reaction conditions.