Amidation of 1'-(diphenylphosphanyl)ferrocene-1-carboxylic acid (Hdpf) with ethane-1,2-diamine afforded N,N'-ethylenebis[1'-(diphenylphosphanyl)ferrocene-1-carboxamide] (1), which was isolated in free and solvated form, 1·2AcOH. Both 1 and Hdpf were further converted to their respective phosphane sulfides, 2·2AcOH and 3 that were structurally characterized. Testing of the amidophosphane ligands in Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reaction between phenylboronic acid and various aryl halides revealed that catalyst formed in situ from 1 and palladium(II) acetate is highly active in coupling reactions of aryl bromides whilst the corresponding aryl chlorides showed no or only poor conversions. The catalyst based on 2·2AcOH gave markedly lower yields of the coupling products.
