Copper-catalyzed guanidinylation of aryl iodides: the formation of N,N'-disubstituted guanidines.

A copper-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction of guanidine nitrate with aryl iodides was used for the formation of N,N'-disubstituted guanidines to be used as potential therapeutics for strokes. A relatively inexpensive commercially available guanidine salt and a series of aryl iodides together with copper iodide and N,N-diethylsalicylamide as an efficient catalyst/ligand system provided a simple diarylation procedure.