Jie-Ping
Wan
ab,
Chunping
Wang
a,
Rihui
Zhou
a and
Yunyun
Liu
*ab
aKey Laboratory of Functional Small Organic Molecule, Ministry of Education, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, 330022, P. R. China
bCollege of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, 330022, P. R. China. E-mail: chemliuyunyun@gmail.com; Fax: +86 791 88120380; Tel: +86 791 88120380
First published on 3rd August 2012
A sustainable catalyst system consisted of H2O/ethyl lactate (EL), Pd(OAc)2 and K2CO3 has been developed as a generally applicable protocol for Suzuki–Miyaura reactions using various aryl bromides and iodides to incorporate arylboronic acids under ligand-free conditions. This protocol is advantageous owing to the employment of water and non-toxic, biomass available ethyl lactate as green media. In addition, as a co-solvent with water, ethyl lactate displayed evident superiority over conventional polar organic solvents such as DMF, DMSO and dioxane etc., which implied the additional potential function of EL as a ligand in these reactions.
Currently, routes of designing eco-friendly protocols for the Suzuki–Miyaura reaction include alternating traditional phosphine ligands with environmentally benign ligands or ligand-free catalysis,3 reactions under mild conditions,4 reactions at low catalyst loading, transition metal-free conditions or employing reusable supported catalysts.5 However, most efforts on green Suzuki–Miyaura methodology have focused on the search of green and sustainable solvent mediated catalyst systems. A lot of different green media have been employed for developing the Suzuki–Miyaura reaction in eco-friendly conditions. Typical examples in this area include water-poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG),6 water–acetone,7 water–ionic liquid,8 water–MeCN,9 water–DMF,3d water–alcohol (EtOH, i-PrOH, BuOH) etc.,10 to name but a few. On the other hand, using only water as solvent for the Suzuki–Miyaura reactions had also been achieved with elegant results, the limit for these reactions was the need for prior decorated palladium catalysts with functional organic auxiliaries, harsh heating, special ligands or other external assistance in most cases.11 For those reactions performed under conventional heating with simple palladium catalysts such as PdCl2, Pd(OAc)2etc., it seems that the presence of organic solvent is still currently inevitable to guarantee satisfactory results.12 In this regard, the design of a catalyst system employing authentically nontoxic and biodegradable organic medium is a promising direction for establishing greener Suzuki–Miyaura reactions.
In recent years, nontoxic biomass available solvents have been regarded as highly potential sustainable media for organic synthesis.13 Solvents of this type such as glycerol,14 glycerol ethers15etc. have already shown broad applicability as media in organic synthesis. Ethyl lactate is another biomass-derivable solvent that possesses unique advantages of low production cost, nontoxicity (used as additive in food industry), low environmental impact (completely biodegradable), good compatibility with water, high boiling point (154 °C) and excellent solubility to organic compounds.16 Therefore, ethyl lactate is theoretically an ideal solvent as medium for sustainable organic synthesis. However, the research on EL mediated organic synthesis is presently in its infancy,17 to our best knowledge, the Suzuki–Miyaura reaction using EL or similar biomass derived solvents is not yet available. Herein, we report the first water–EL mixed green solvent mediated Suzuki–Miyaura reaction using a simple commercially available palladium catalyst under ligand free conditions.
:
water (2
:
1) and (1
:
1) mixture suggested that 1
:
1 mixed EL and water was better than other media systems (entries 1–4, Table 1), further modification of the solvent proved that 2 mL of 1
:
1 mixed EL
:
water gave even better result (entry 5, Table 1). With this established mixed solvent system, extensive investigation was conducted to evaluate the effect of temperature (entry 6, Table 1), base species (entries 7–9, Table 1) and catalyst loading (entries 10–11, Table 1). Through comparing the results from these experiments, optimal conditions turned out to be 1 mol% Pd(OAc)2, 2 eq of K2CO3 in 2 mL mixed EL
:
water (1
:
1) and 60 °C (entry 5, Table 1). Further experiments performed with PdCl2 as catalyst or with DMF–water, DMSO–water, ethyl acetate–water, dioxane–water as mixed media all gave inferior yield of the product 3a (entries 12–16, Table 1).
| Entry | Catalyst (mol %) | Base | Solvent (mL) | Yield (%)b |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| a Unless specified, the general conditions: 1a (0.5 mmol), 2a (0.75 mmol) and base (2 eq) at 60 °C for 2 h. EL = ethyl lactate, EA = ethyl acetate. b Isolated yield based on 1a. c This reaction was performed at 45 °C. | ||||
| 1 | Pd(OAc)2 (1) | K2CO3 | EL : H2O (2 : 1) |
26 |
| 2 | Pd(OAc)2 (1) | K2CO3 | EL (3) | 62 |
| 3 | Pd(OAc)2 (1) | K2CO3 | H2O (3) | 60 |
| 4 | Pd(OAc)2 (1) | K2CO3 | EL : H2O (1.5 : 1.5) |
56 |
| 5 | Pd(OAc)2 (1) | K2CO3 | EL : H2O (1 : 1) |
93 |
| 6c | Pd(OAc)2 (1) | K2CO3 | EL : H2O (1 : 1) |
47 |
| 7 | Pd(OAc)2 (1) | Na2CO3 | EL : H2O (1 : 1) |
62 |
| 8 | Pd(OAc)2 (1) | Et3N | EL : H2O (1 : 1) |
53 |
| 9 | Pd(OAc)2 (1) | NaHCO3 | EL : H2O (1 : 1) |
44 |
| 10 | Pd(OAc)2 (0.5) | K2CO3 | EL : H2O (1 : 1) |
52 |
| 11 | Pd(OAc)2 (0.25) | K2CO3 | EL : H2O (1 : 1) |
44 |
| 12 | PdCl2 (1) | K2CO3 | EL : H2O (1 : 1) |
23 |
| 13 | Pd(OAc)2 (1) | K2CO3 | DMF : H2O (1 : 1) |
70 |
| 14 | Pd(OAc)2 (1) | K2CO3 | DMSO : H2O (1 : 1) |
57 |
| 15 | Pd(OAc)2 (1) | K2CO3 | Dioxane : H2O (1 : 1) |
58 |
| 16 | Pd(OAc)2 (1) | K2CO3 | EA : H2O (1 : 1) |
15 |
Based on the optimized results, we first examined the applicable scope by using different iodobenzenes and arylboronic acid derivatives. The results from this section were shown in Table 2. It was found that most aryl iodides reacted with phenylboronic acids to give corresponding biaryls with excellent yields since aryl iodides are known as active electrophiles in various cross coupling reactions. The heteroaryl substrate thiophen-2-boronic acid provided relatively lower yield of the corresponding product when reacted with 1a (entry 11, Table 2). Based on these typical examples, it was undoubted that the palladium-catalyzed green protocol consisted of EL–water was well suited for the Suzuki–Miyaura cross coupling of aryl iodide substrates with boronic acids. With these acquired results, we believed that this method should be also applicable for the reactions of aryl bromides. Therefore, we turned to examine the Suzuki–Miyaura reactions using aryl bromides as these reactions represented more practical application of a catalytic system for the Suzuki–Miyaura reaction. The reaction results acquired from a broad array of aryl/heteroaryl bromides and aryl boronic acids were outlined in Table 3. As expected, the reactions of aryl bromides have also shown excellent tolerance to this protocol albeit the reaction temperature was enhanced because of lower reactivity of these bromide substrates. Generally, aryl bromides with electron withdrawing as well donating groups in the ortho-, meta- and para-positions, and heteroaryl bromides were able to smoothly incorporate a class of different aryl boronic acids to give corresponding biaryls 3 in moderate to excellent yields. Based on the results from these present entries, the properties of the functional groups in both reactants didn't show any regular effects on the reaction efficiency. On the other hand, an attempt on employing functional aryl chlorides such as p-tolyl chloride as a reaction partner showed only trace transformation under present conditions.
:
H2O systema| Entry | R1 | Ar | Product | Yield (%)b |
|---|---|---|---|---|
a General reaction conditions: 1 (0.5 mmol), 2 (0.75 mmol) mixed in 1 : 1 EL : H2O, stirred at 60 °C for 2 h in the presence of 0.005 mmol Pd(OAc)2 and 1 mmol K2CO3.
b Isolated yield based on 1.
|
||||
| 1 | H | Ph | 3a | 93 |
| 2 | 4-MeO | Ph | 3b | 99 |
| 3 | 3-NO2 | Ph | 3c | 91 |
| 4 | 2-MeO | Ph | 3d | 81 |
| 5 | 2-OH | Ph | 3e | 80 |
| 6 | H | 4-FC6H4 | 3f | 98 |
| 7 | H | 4-ClC6H4 | 3g | 97 |
| 8 | H | 4-MeOC6H4 | 3b | 82 |
| 9 | H | 4-MeC6H4 | 3h | 70 |
| 10 | H | 2-MeC6H4 | 3i | 97 |
| 11 | H | Thiophene-2-yl | 3j | 60 |
| 12 | H | Naphth-1-yl | 3k | 92 |
:
H2O systema| Entry | Ar1 | Ar2 | Product | Yield (%)b |
|---|---|---|---|---|
a General reaction conditions: 4 (0.5 mmol), 2 (0.75 mmol) mixed in 1 : 1 EL : H2O, stirred at 80 °C for 2 h in the presence of 0.005 mmol Pd(OAc)2 and 1 mmol K2CO3.
b Isolated yield based on 4.
|
||||
| 1 | Ph | Ph | 3a | 81 |
| 2 | 4-OHC6H4 | Ph | 3l | 93 |
| 3 | 3-MeOC6H4 | Ph | 3m | 76 |
| 4 | 4-AcC6H4 | Ph | 3n | 65 |
| 5 | 2-OHCC6H4 | Ph | 3o | 60 |
| 6 | Ph | 4-MeOC6H4 | 3b | 43 |
| 7 | Ph | 4-FC6H4 | 3f | 56 |
| 8 | Ph | Naphtha-1-yl | 3k | 62 |
| 9 | 4-AcC6H4 | 4-MeC6H4 | 3p | 81 |
| 10 | 4-AcC6H4 | 4-FC6H4 | 3q | 88 |
| 11 | 2-OHCC6H4 | 4-ClC6H4 | 3r | 96 |
| 12 | 2-OHCC6H4 | 4-FC6H4 | 3s | 62 |
| 13 | 4-MeC6H4 | 4-ClC6H4 | 3t | 43 |
| 14 | 3-MeOC6H4 | Napth-1-yl | 3u | 50 |
| 15 | Naphtha-2-yl | Ph | 3v | 48 |
| 16 | Pyridine-2-yl | Ph | 3w | 45 |
The practical reaction results of aryl boronic acids to both aryl iodides and bromides encouraged us to further explore the reactivity of different bromo- and iodoaryl dihalides to investigate the chemoselectivity of these bihaloaryls in the Suzuki–Miyaura coupling. Interestingly, when subjected to 80 °C heating in the presence of 2 equiv of phenylboronic acid, the mono-coupled biaryl products 3x–3z were obtained as single or major products and the doubly coupled triaryl product was not observed or isolated as a minor product (Scheme 1). The chemoselectivity was different from most previously reported catalyst protocols wherein triaryls were usually provided as the main or sole products.5k,7,18 The excellent chemoselectivity of our approach on the production of bromo-substituted biaryls was advantageous for the synthesis of unsymmetrical triaryls via stepwise cross coupling using different aryl boronic acids.
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| Scheme 1 Chemoselective Suzuki–Miyaura reactions of bromoaryl iodides. | ||
Footnote |
| † Electronic Supplementary Information (ESI) available: General experimental information, characterization data as well as copies of 1H and 13C NMR spectra of all products. See DOI: 10.1039/c2ra21632a/ |
| This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2012 |