Co-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling Reaction of Alkyl Fluorides with Alkyl Grignard Reagents

The cross-coupling reaction of unactivated alkyl fluorides with alkyl Grignard reagents by a CoCl2/LiI/1,3-pentadiene catalytic system is described. The present reaction smoothly cleaved C–F bonds under mild conditions and achieved alkyl–alkyl cross-coupling even when sterically hindered tertiary alkyl Grignard reagents were employed. Since alkyl fluorides are inert toward many reagents and catalytic intermediates, the use of the present reaction enables a new multistep synthetic route to construct carbon frameworks by combining conventional transformations.