Transition Metal Catalyzed Preparation of Grignard Compounds

The “inorganic Grignard reagents”, in particular those of 1, have surprisingly been shown to be efficient homogeneous catalysts for the conversion of inactive chloroarenes and heteroarenes (via the aryl–iron intermediate 2) into the corresponding Grignard compounds. The aryl–Grignard compounds are starting materials for, among other things, the preparation of aryl boron acid esters, which serve as substrates for the technically important Suzuki coupling.