Novel triphenylarsinyl-functionalized N-heterocyclic carbene ligands in palladium-catalyzed C–C coupling reactions

Synthesis of novel triphenylarsinyl-functionalized N-heterocyclic carbene pre-ligands starting from N,N-dimethylbenzylamine, chlorodiphenylarsine and different 1-substituted imidazoles and their characterization by NMR and X-ray analysis is reported. Furthermore, these precursors are applied to different palladium-catalyzed reactions such as Heck-, hydro-Heck, π, σ domino-Heck and Suzuki reactions to give the C–C coupling products in good to excellent isolated yields.