Suzuki Cross-Couplings of Unactivated Secondary Alkyl Bromides and Iodides

The capacity to employ unactivated alkyl electrophiles as coupling partners will markedly increase the already exceptional utility of metal-catalyzed cross-coupling processes. This communication describes the development of a method that achieves the first Suzuki reactions of unactivated secondary alkyl bromides and iodides. The ability to couple readily available, easy-to-handle boronic acids is an attractive feature of this catalyst system.