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.