Water-Soluble Pd–Imidate Complexes: Broadly Applicable Catalysts for the Synthesis of Chemically Modified Nucleosides via Pd-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling

A broadly
applicable catalyst system consisting of water-soluble
Pd–imidate complexes has been enployed for the Suzuki–Miyaura
cross-coupling of four different nucleosides in water under mild conditions.
The efficient nature of the catalyst system also allowed its application
in developing a microwave-assisted protocol with the purpose of expediting
the catalytic reaction. Preliminary mechanistic studies, assisted
by catalyst poison tests and stoichiometric tests performed using
an electrospray ionization spectrometer, revealed the possible presence
of a homotopic catalyst system.