Palladium-catalyzed highly regioselective mono and double Sonogashira cross-coupling reactions of 5-substituted-1,2,3-triiodobenzene under ambient conditions.

An efficient synthesis of 2,3-diiodinated diphenylacetylene and iodinated -terphenylacetylene derivatives through highly regioselective mono and double Sonogashira cross-coupling reactions of 5-substituted-1,2,3-triiodobenzene is reported. Significantly, the regioselectivity of coupling reactions is exclusively performed at the terminal C-I bonds, the less sterically hindered and the most regioactive positions. The highest isolated yields were achieved from reactions of electron-poor/neutral 1,2,3-triiodoarene and electron-rich arylacetylene derivatives. The use of 2.0 equiv. of arylacetylenes in one-pot fashion afforded the iodinated -terphenylacetylenes in excellent site selectivity and in good isolated yields. Different functional groups were found to be suitable under optimized conditions. This report discloses the first method to synthesize hitherto unknown 2,3-diiodinated diphenylacetylenes and iodinated -terphenylacetylenes that is facile, highly regioselective, general in scope and produces remarkable building blocks for other chemical transformations.