Direct Aryl‐Aryl Coupling without Pre‐Functionalization Enabled by Excessive Oxidation of Two‐Electron Ag(I)/Ag(III) Catalyst

Abstract

Reported herein is a catalytic platform for formation of unsymmetrical biaryls by the coupling between inert Csp2−CH3 and Csp2−H via a tandem catalytic strategy. The platform utilizes traditional AgNO3 catalyst and excess amount of K2S2O8 oxidant. The excessive oxidant present converts the traditional one‐electron Ag(I)/Ag(II) chemistry to two‐electron Ag(I)/Ag(III) one, enabling one‐pot synthesis of aryl‐aryl scaffolds by using unactivated cheap commodity chemicals.