Synergistic Au–Pd catalysis of Sonogashira Couplings of Terminal Alkynes with Aryl Iodides in water

Abstract

The first example of synergistic Pd/Au catalysis of Sonogashira couplings in water is described. Using 0.01 mol% of a palladium catalyst in combination with 2 mol% of a gold cocatalyst, various terminal alkynes react smoothly with aryl iodides, furnishing aryl alkynes in up to 99% yield within 30 minutes. These transformations have good functional-group compatibility and gram-scale synthetic ability.