Structure and reactivity of new phosphine ligands containing the hemi-labile sulfone moiety

New heterofunctional phosphine ligands have been synthesised, incorporating the substitutionally labile sulfone and sulfonamide moieties as chelating groups, which display activity in the palladium-catalysed Suzuki and amination cross-coupling reactions. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies of the complexes formed with [Pd(mu-Cl)(dmba)] (dmba-H = N, N-dimethylbenzylamine) highlight the coordinating nature of these ligands; showing the formation of a bis chelate complex through a six-membered Pd - P - C - C - S - O ring with the sulfonamide class of ligands