Magnesiation of Aryl Fluorides Catalyzed by a Rhodium–Aluminum Complex

We report the magnesiation of aryl fluorides catalyzed by an Al-Rh heterobimetallic complex. We show that the complex is highly reactive to cleave the C-F bonds across the polarized Al-Rh bond under mild conditions. The reaction allows the use of an easy-to-handle magnesium powder to generate a range of arylmagnesium reagents from aryl fluorides, which are conventionally inert to such metalation compared with other aryl halides.