Thermal Nickel-Catalyzed N‑Arylation of NH-Sulfoximines with (Hetero)aryl Chlorides Enabled by PhPAd-DalPhos Ligation

We report a versatile method for cross-coupling of NH-sulfoximines with (hetero)­aryl chlorides, as well as bromide and sulfonate electrophiles, that makes use of the air-stable, commercial precatalyst (PhPAd-DalPhos)­Ni­(o-tol)­Cl. Under optimized conditions a diverse electrophile scope is established, including the N-arylation of the pharmaceutical Clozapine. While 5 mol % Ni and 80 °C are commonly employed in this chemistry, successful examples utilizing 1 mol % Ni and/or 25 °C are presented. Competition experiments establish the superiority of NH-sulfoximine over primary sulfonamide as nucleophiles under these conditions.