Nickel-catalyzed cross-coupling of epoxides with aryltriflates: rapid and regioselective construction of aryl ketones

Abstract

Aryl ketones are one of the most important classes of organic compounds, and widely present in various pharmacological compounds, biologically active molecules and functional materials. Presented herein is a facile synthetic method for the construction of ketones via Ni-catalyzed cross coupling of epoxides with aryltriflates. A range of easily accessible epoxides can be highly regioselectively converted to the corresponding aryl ketones with good yields in a redox neutral fashion.