Ni-catalyzed electrochemical decarboxylative C-C couplings in batch and continuous flow

Abstract

An electrochemically driven, nickel-catalyzed reductive coupling of N-hydroxyphthalimide esters with aryl halides is reported. The reaction proceeds under mild conditions in a divided electrochemical cell and employs a tertiary amine as the reductant. This decarboxylative C(sp[superscript 3])-C(sp[superscript 2]) bond-forming transformation exhibits excellent substrate generality and functional group compatibility. An operationally simple continuous-flow version of this transformation using a commercial electrochemical flow reactor represents a robust and scalable synthesis of value added coupling process.