Water and Sodium Chloride: Essential Ingredients for Robust and Fast Pd‐Catalysed Cross‐Coupling Reactions between Organolithium Reagents and (Hetero)aryl Halides

Direct palladium-catalysed cross-couplings between organolithium reagents and (hetero)aryl halides (Br, Cl) proceed fast, cleanly and selectively at room temperature in air, with water as the only reaction medium and in the presence of NaCl as a cheap additive. Under optimised reaction conditions, a water-accelerated catalysis is responsible for furnishing C(sp3 )-C(sp2 ), C(sp2 )-C(sp2 ), and C(sp)-C(sp2 ) cross-coupled products, in competition...