Palladium-Catalyzed External-CO-Free Carbonylation of Aryl Bromides Using 2,4,6-Trichlorophenyl Formate.

A practical Pd-catalyzed carbonylation of (hetero)aryl bromides using a crystalline carbon monoxide (CO) surrogate, 2,4,6-trichlorophenyl formate (TCPF), was developed. This reaction proceeds without the slow addition technique that was previously required and with a low catalyst loading (1 mol%). The utility of this Pd-catalyzed external-CO-free carbonylation using TCPF was demonstrated in the synthesis of a histone deacetylase inhibitor.