Jean-Francois Fauvarque

Efficient palladium-catalyzed synthesis of unsymmetrical donor—acceptor biaryls and polyaryls

Abstract 4,4′-Unsymmetrically substituted biphenyls can be synthesized by cross-coupling reactions of substituted aromatic organometallic reagents and aromatic halides catalyzed by palladium complexes. This two-step method from commercially available aromatic halides has been used for the synthesis of a series of donor/acceptor para -substituted biphenyls, DC 6 H 4 C 6 H 4 A, where D is an electron donor group and A an electron acceptor group, which are of interest as liquid crystal precursors and as having potential in non-linear optics. Biaryls in which the donor-phenyl moiety is replaced by a 2-furyl or 2-thienyl can be synthesized similarly. The method can also be used for the convergent synthesis of previously unreported unsymmetrically substituted polyparaphenylenes ( n = 3,4).