Synthesis of α-Arylated Esters from Aryl Halides

An operationally simple and inexpensive catalyst system was developed for the cross coupling of aryl iodides and bromides with ethyl acetoacetate by using CuI as catalyst and Nmethyl glycine as ligand. The reaction represents a novel Cu-catalyzed C-C cross coupling reaction. This procedure is applicable to the preparation of pharmaceutically important α-arylalkanoic acids.