Synthesis of the benzhydryl motif via a Suzuki-Miyaura coupling of arylboronic acids and 3-chloroacrylonitriles.

[reaction: see text] A simple two-step procedure for synthesizing functionalized benzhydrylamines is described. The first step involves a Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reaction between arylboronic acids and 3-chloro-3-arylacrylonitriles at 45 degrees C. A variety of boronic acids and substituted acrylonitriles can be used for the reaction. The resulting 3,3-diaryl-substituted acrylonitriles can be converted into their corresponding Boc-protected amines by catalytic hydrogenation.