A Soluble Copper(I) Source and Stable Salts of Volatile Ligands for Copper-Catalyzed C–X Couplings

A stable adduct of CuI with Bu(4)NI, soluble in organic solvents, has been identified as an effective catalyst for copper-catalyzed C-N and C-O couplings. In addition, stable nonhygroscopic salts of some high performance ligands (diamine MsOH salts/CuX and copper(II) diketonates) were shown to be of similar and sometimes greater reactivity compared to the literature reagents for these couplings. Furthermore, these more robust conditions result in more reproducible results.