Thioketone-Directed Palladium(II)-Catalyzed C-H Arylation of Ferrocenes with Aryl Boronic Acids.

A palladium(II)-catalyzed thioketone-chelation-assisted direct C-H arylation of ferrocenes is described. With thioketone as an efficient directing group, various monoaryl- and diaryl-substituted thiocarbonylferrocenes were obtained by palladium-catalyzed direct C-H functionalization in high yields under mild and base-free reaction conditions. Furthermore, the arylated thiocarbonylferrocene could undergo diverse transformations.