Abstract A practical synthesis of α-haloaryl esters has been achieved via a chemoselective Negishi coupling of poly-halogenated aromatics and Reformatsky reagents in the presence of catalytic Pd (dba) 2 and Xantphos. This chemistry tolerates a variety of aryl halides and was successfully applied to the synthesis of Ibuprofen. The α-haloaryl ester products, exemplified by ethyl 2-(4-bromo-2-chlorophenyl) acetate (3a), can be further ...
