Combinatorial Nickel-Catalyzed Monofluoroalkylation of Aryl Boronic Acids with Unactivated Fluoroalkyl Iodides

A combinatorial nickel-catalyzed cross-coupling between arylboronic acids and unactived 1-fluoro-1-iodoalkanes has been developed, which demonstrated high efficiency, mild conditions, and excellent functional-group compatibility. Readily available nitrogen and phosphine ligands were combined with a nitrogen source, which in situ generated a variety of easily tunable catalysts to promote the fluoroalkylation for broad scopes of both coupling partners. This new strategy on combinatorial catalysis offers new solutions for nickel-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions.