A Foldamer-Based Organocatalyst for Direct Arylations of Unactivated Arenes

It was demonstrated that a simple yet well-folded pyridone dimer, possessing two convergently aligned electron-rich O atoms for potassium binding, can serve as a highly efficient organocatalyst for catalyzing transition-metal-free arylations of unactivated aromatic C-H bonds with aryl halides in the presence of t-BuOK. A wide range of aryl iodides could be cross-coupled with unactivated arenes in moderate to excellent yields. The experiments using radical-scavenging reagents confirm the participation of radicals in this catalytic transformation.