Rhenium Complexes-Catalyzed Alkylation of Arenes with Alkyl Halides

Rhenium complexes have been shown to catalyze the alkylation of arenes with alkyl halides. When arenes were reacted with an alkyl chloride in the presence of a catalytic amount of rhenium complexes, such as bromopentacarbonylrhenium(I) [ReBr(CO)5], tricarbonylcyclopentadienylrhenium(I) [Re(C5H5)(CO)3] and decacarbonyldirhenium [Re2(CO)10], alkylation of the arenes proceeded under mild conditions to give a mixture of mono- and dialkyl substituted arenes in moderate-to-good yields.