Highly efficient, general procedure for the preparation of alkylzinc reagents from unactivated alkyl bromides and chlorides.

[reaction: see text] Alkylzinc bromides have been efficiently prepared by the direct insertion of zinc metal (dust, powder, granule, shot), activated with 1-5 mol % I(2), into alkyl bromides in a polar aprotic solvent. The zinc reagents thus formed undergo Ni- and Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling with aryl halides to produce functionalized alkylarenes in excellent yields.