Nickel-Catalyzed Decarboxylative Arylation of Heteroarenes through sp2 C-H Functionalization.

The direct decarboxylative arylation of hetereoarenes with benzoic acids through a nickel-catalyzed sp² C-H functionalization process was developed. This process provides the first examples of decarboxylative cross-coupling reactions with aromatic acids through nickel catalysis and tolerates a variety of functional groups. Moreover, this method provides efficient access to 2-aryl-substituted azoles, an important structural unit in natural products, medicinal compounds, and functional materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]