Palladium-catalyzed reductive ortho-arylation: evidence for the decomposition of 1,2-dimethoxyethane and subsequent arylpalladium(II) reduction.

A palladium-catalyzed crossed biaryl coupling/reduction sequence enables the formation of meta-substituted biaryls via solvent-mediated arylpalladium(II) reduction. Isotope labeling studies determined that the decomposition of 1,2-dimethoxyethane (DME) is indeed involved in the reductive process.