Highly selective synthesis of 4(5)-aryl-, 2,4(5)-diaryl-, and 4,5-diaryl-1H-imidazoles via Pd-catalyzed direct C-5 arylation of 1-benzyl-1H-imidazole

Highly selective, practical, and efficient protocols for the preparation of 4(5)-aryl-1H-imidazoles 2, 2,4(5)-diaryl-1H-imidazoles 3, and 4,5-diaryl-1H-imidazoles 1 are described. A key step of these protocols is the regioselective synthesis of 5-aryl-1-benzyl-1H-imidazoles 9 by Pd-catalyzed direct C-5 arylation of commercially available 1-benzyl-1H-imidazole (8) with aryl halides. The three-step synthesis of compounds 3 from 8 also involves the Pd-catalyzed and Cu-mediated direct C-2 arylation of imidazoles 9 with aryl halides under base-free and ligandless conditions. On the other hand, the four-step synthesis of imidazoles 1 from 8 also involves the regioselective bromination of compounds 9 and a Suzuki reaction of the resulting 5-aryl-1-benzyl-4-bromo-1H-imidazoles 11 with arylboronic acids 5 under phase-transfer conditions, followed by N-debenzylation.