Palladium/copper-cocatalyzed decarbonylative alkynylation of acyl fluorides with alkynylsilanes: synthesis of unsymmetrical diarylethynes

Palladium/copper-cocatalyzed decarbonylative alkynylation of acyl fluorides with alkynylsilanes is described. This reaction not only effectively inhibits the formation of undesired homocoupled products by avoiding the addition of a base, but also exhibits a wide substrate scope to provide a general access to diverse unsymmetrical diarylethynes. Alkynylation of acyl fluorides with alkynylsilanes via palladium/copper-cocatalysed carbon-fluorine bond cleavage and sequential decarbonylation, which provide an efficient route to various unsymmetrical diarylethynes, have been disclosed.