Easily Accessible and Solution-Stable Ni(0) Precatalysts for High-Throughput Experimentation

We report the synthesis, characterization, and catalytic applications of N,N’-diaryl diazabutadiene (DAB) Ni(0) complexes stabilized by alkene ligands. These complexes are soluble and stable in several organic solvents, making them ideal candidates for in situ catalyst formation during high-throughput experimentation (HTE). We used HTE to evaluate these Ni(0) precatalysts in a variety of Suzuki and C–N coupling reactions, and they were found to have equal or better performance than the still ‘industry-standard’ Ni(0) source, Ni(COD)2.