Palladium‐Catalyzed Direct C–H Arylation of Dicyanobenzenes
A direct palladium-catalyzed C–H arylation method to synthesize biaryls from dicyanobenzenes has been developed. The reaction is selective towards C2-arylation of 1,3-dicyanobenzene and provides biaryls from both electron-rich and electron-poor aryl bromides containing para and meta substituents. A variety of functional groups are tolerated, and yields up to 83 % can be obtained. The methodology can be extended to C–H activation of other electron-deficient benzonitriles.