Ligand-accelerated Pd-catalyzed ketone γ-arylation via C-C cleavage with aryl chlorides.

A highly efficient Pd-catalyzed arylative ring expansion of cyclobutanols via C-C bond cleavage is presented. The method allows the coupling of aryl chlorides at low catalyst loadings with a wide range of functional groups and substitution patterns, thus constituting a straightforward alternative for preparing rather elusive γ-arylated ketones.