Photocatalyst-free, visible light driven, gold promoted Suzuki synthesis of (hetero)biaryls

A visible-light driven Suzuki cross-coupling reaction was performed with colored and bench-stable arylazosulfones in the presence of Ph3PAuCl (5 mol%) as the catalyst. The absence of a photocatalyst, along with the use of commercially available and easy-to-handle arylboronic acids underlined the novelty and synthetic usefulness of the protocol. A reaction mechanism involving the generation of an aryl radical as the key intermediate has been proposed on the basis of experimental investigations.