Design of New Ligands for the Palladium-Catalyzed Arylation of α-Branched Secondary Amines.

In Pd-catalyzed C-N cross-coupling reactions, α-branched secondary amines are difficult coupling partners and the desired products are often produced in low yields. In order to provide a robust method for accessing N-aryl α-branched tertiary amines, new catalysts have been designed to suppress undesired side reactions often encountered when these amine nucleophiles are used. These advances enabled the arylation of a wide array of sterically encumbered amines, highlighting the importance of rational ligand design in facilitating challenging Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions.