Exploring the scope of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) as a soluble polymer matrix for the Stille cross-coupling reaction

The optimization and efficient parallel synthesis and purification of a library of biaryl, heterobiaryl, and styryl derivatives, via the first reported poly(ethylene glycol)-supported palladium-catalyzed Stille procedure, are described. Preliminary investigations into the reaction between monomethoxy poly(ethylene glycol)(5000)-supported iodide 1a with tributylphenyltin 2 revealed that the optimal "liquid-phase" conditions employ PdCl2(PPh3)(2) (0.1 equiv) catalysis with LiCl (10 equiv) in DMF at 80 degrees C for either 48 h (at 20 mM concentration of 1a) or 24 h (at 10 mM concentration of 1a). The soluble polymer-supported reaction is superior to its solution-phase counterpart because the tributyltin side products and excess reagents are easily separated from the product intermediate 3a by precipitation of 3a into diethyl ether followed by recovery of the polymer by filtration in >99%. In addition, the homocoupled byproduct 6 is also removed during this precipitation step. Under these conditions the transesterified biaryl adduct 4a can be isolated in 97-98% yield. The scope of this reaction was probed in a parallel format with the PEG-supported electrophiles 1a-b and a range of tributyl stannanes 2 and 7-13 under the optimized conditions vide supra. Subsequent cleavage of the polymer-supported adducts, by transesterification, and short column chromatography yielded a library of substituted methyl benzoates 4a-b and 14a-b to 20a-b in high yield (69-99%) and purity (>95%).