Mild and General Conditions for the Cross-Coupling of Aryl Halides with Pentafluorobenzene and Other Perfluoroaromatics

New reaction conditions are described that enable the direct arylation of pentafluorobenzene with sterically encumbered aryl bromides and aryl chlorides. These reactions occur in high yield and under mild conditions. Notably, the reactions can be performed at 80 °C in isopropyl acetate with a catalyst generated by the in situ mixing of Pd(OAc)2 and S-Phos. The enhanced scope of these transformations should further reduce the need to use pentafluorophenylboronic acid in the construction of perfluoroarenes.