Uncatalyzed CO2Li-Mediated SNAr Reaction of Unprotected Benzoic Acids via Silicon Trickery

The alkyl and aryllithium nucleophilic aromatic substitution (SNAr) displacement of a fluoro or methoxy group from unprotected 2-fluoro/methoxybenzoic acids is discussed. It was discovered that a TMS group located at the C6-position ortho to the carboxyl group shields effectively the carboxylate against nucleophilic attack, thus reducing dramatically ketone formation, and reorients nucleophilic substitution to the C2-position. The reactions with fluoro-substituted substrate 7 proceed efficiently; in contrast, the use of methoxy-functionalized benzoic acid 8 only affords moderate yields with s-BuLi and PhLi. This uncatalyzed coupling reaction, which provides a direct access to biaryl compounds, presumably proceeds by an addition–elimination sequence via intermediate formation of a resonance-stabilized pentavalent silalactone-Meisenheimer complex.