Ligand-Free, Copper-Catalyzed Coupling Reaction of Aryl Aluminum Reagents with N-Aryl Thiosuccinimides

A highly efficient and simple cross-coupling reaction of N-aryl aluminum reagents with Naryl thiosuccinimides for the synthesis of diarylsulide derivatives using CuCl (20 mol%) as a catalyst is reported. Under the optimum reaction conditions, the coupling reaction between aryl aluminum reagents with different substituents and N-aryl thiosuccinimides with different substituents can be carried out smoothly with 18-94% isolated yields of diarylsulides. The method avoids the use of expensive transition metals, such as Pd, Ir, or Rh, phosphine ligands, and has the advantages of simple operation and high reaction efficiency. The structures of all the target compounds are confirmed by ¹HNMR and ¹³CNMR.