Barbier-Negishi Coupling of Secondary Alkyl Bromides with Aryl and Alkenyl Triflates and Nonaflates.

A mild and practical Barbier-Negishi coupling of secondary alkyl bromides with aryl and alkenyl triflates and nonaflates has been developed. This challenging reaction was enabled by the use of a very bulky imidazole-based phosphine ligand, which resulted in good yields as well as good chemo- and site selectivities for a broad range of substrates at room temperature and under non-aqueous conditions. This reaction was extended to primary alkyl bromides by using an analogous pyrazole-based ligand.