Biaryl ethers are important moieties found in natural products, pharmaceuticals and functional materials. There are a range of methods for the synthesis of biaryl ethers among which one of the most powerful is the copper catalysed arylation of phenols: the Ullmann condensation.While the coupling traditionally required high temperature and stoichiometric quantities of copper modern ligand accelerated protocols have improved this situation; the conditions are now relatively mild and are competitive with their palladium catalysed alternatives.While it is clear that the addition of copper chelating ligands accelerates the coupling it is still ambiguous how the ligands are able to achieve this mechanistically. Furthermore, the structure of applicable ligands is surprisingly diverse compared with those used in palladium chemistry.The goal of this research has been to elucidate how the structure of ligands impacts on the mechanism of the coupling and the initial results of this program are presented.

Investigations into the Ullmann biaryl ether synthesis

245th National Meeting (2013)

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