Palladium-Catalyzed Amidation and Amination of (Hetero)aryl Chlorides under Homogeneous Conditions Enabled by a Soluble DBU/NaTFA Dual-Base System

The palladium-catalyzed coupling of aryl and heteroaryl chlorides with primary amides under mild homogeneous reaction conditions is reported. Successful C–N coupling is enabled by the use of a unique “dual-base” system consisting of DBU and NaTFA, which serve as proton acceptor and halide scavenger, respectively, using low catalyst loadings (0.5 mol %) with readily available, air-stable palladium precatalysts. The DBU/NaTFA system also enables the room-temperature coupling of primary aryl amines with aryl chlorides and is tolerant of a variety of base-sensitive functional groups.