zinc bromides and regioconvergent Negishi coupling with aryl or alkenyl triflates. The use of a suitable phosphine ligand favoring Pd migration enabled the selective formation of the linear cross‐coupling product. Subsequently, mixtures of secondary alkyl bromides were prepared from linear alkanes by standard bromination, and regioconvergent cross‐coupling then provided access to the corresponding linear
The photoreaction of dicyanobenzenes with aliphatic carboxylate ions afforded alkylcyanobenzenes and alkyldicyanobenzenes via decarboxylative Substitution. The redox-photosensitized reaction system was effective in improving the product yield. The efficiency of this photoreaction depended on the structure of the carboxylate ion, and the product distribution varied with the dicyanobenzenes employed. This photoreaction was proved to be a clean process for the preparation of alkylcyanobenzenes. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.