Nickel-Catalyzed Carbonylation of Difluoroalkyl Bromides with Arylboronic Acids.

A nickel-catalyzed carbonylative difluoroalkylation reaction with arylboronic acids under 1 atm of CO has been developed. The reaction proceeds under mild reaction conditions with high efficiency and high functional group tolerance. Preliminary mechanistic studies reveal that the arylacyl nickel complex is the key intermediate to circumvent the formation of labile fluoroacyl nickel, and bimetallic oxidative addition is likely the key step to facilitate the catalytic cycle.