N‑Indole-Substituted Imidazolylidene Pd-PEPPSI Precatalysts: Enhanced Performance with a 3,5-Diisopropyl-4-indolyl Moiety

Pd-PEPPSI complexes of N-(4-indolyl)-N′-phenylimidazol-2-ylidene (IIn) ligands with a 5-isopropyl-4-indolyl moiety are synthesized and evaluated in heteroarene C–H arylation, Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling, and Buchwald–Hartwig amination reactions. The IIn-Pd complex bearing a 3,5-diisopropyl-4-indolyl substituent (C5) exhibits the best catalytic activity in this series and substantially outperforms commercial precatalyst PEPPSI-Pd-IPr. The results also suggest that the alkyl group at position 3 of the 4-indolyl moiety shows stronger impacts than that at position 5.