Cobalt‐Catalyzed Cross‐Coupling of 3‐ and 4‐Iodopiperidines with Grignard Reagents

A cobalt-catalyzed cross-coupling between 3- and 4-iodopiperidines and Grignard reagents is disclosed. The reaction is an efficient, cheap, chemoselective, and flexible way to functionalize piperidines. This coupling was used as the key step to realize a short synthesis of (±)-preclamol. Some mechanistic investigations were conducted that highlight the formation of radical intermediates.