Unified Protocol for Cobalt-Catalyzed Oxidative Assembly of Two Aryl Metal Reagents Using Oxygen as an Oxidant.

The first cobalt-catalyzed oxidative cross-coupling reaction of two aryl metal reagents is described. An equivalent amount of two aryl Grignard or lithium reagents, after mediation by an equivalent amount of simple ClTi(OEt)3, was facilely assembled under the catalysis of 1 mol % of CoCl2/10 mol % of DMPU using oxygen. The cross-couplings between various aryl metal reagents, especially between two structurally similar aryl Grignard reagents, proceeded smoothly and selectively and, thus, provided a highly general and efficient method for the construction of biaryl compounds.