Ar-F reductive elimination from palladium(II) revisited

In contrast with [(o-Tol(3)P)(2)Pd-2(P-C6H4X)(2)(mu-F)(2)] (1; X = NO2; J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2007, 129, 1342), its nonactivated congeners (X = H, Me, and MeO) do not produce F-19 NMR-detectable quantities of p-FC6H4X upon thermal decomposition in the presence of Buchwald's ligand t-Bu2P-2-C6H4C6H2(i-Pr)(3)-2',4',6' (BL). These results do not support the previously asserted "net Ar-F reductive elimination", given that for X = NO2 some quantities of p-FC6H4X might conceivably be formed from 1 via a variety of other, SNAr-type paths.