Cross-coupling of general aryl alkyl sulfides with arylzinc reagents proceeds smoothly, even at room temperature or below, with a palladium-N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) catalyst. When combined with reactions that are unique to organosulfurs, that is, the SNAr sulfanylation or Pummerer reaction, the cross-coupling offers interesting transformations that are otherwise difficult to achieve. An alkylsulfanyl group is preferentially converted whilst leaving the tosyloxy and chloro intact, which expands the variety of orthogonal cross-coupling.
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