Magnesiation of Aryl Fluorides Catalyzed by a Rhodium–Aluminum Complex

We
report the magnesiation of aryl fluorides catalyzed by an Al–Rh
heterobimetallic complex. We show that the complex is highly reactive
to cleave the C–F bonds across the polarized Al–Rh bond
under mild conditions. The reaction allows the use of an easy-to-handle
magnesium powder to generate a range of arylmagnesium reagents from
aryl fluorides, which are conventionally inert to such metalation
compared with other aryl halides.