Unique regioselectivity of the Pd-catalysed cross-dehydrogenative coupling reaction of simple polyaromatic hydrocarbons with polyfluoroarenes.

A Pd-catalysed cross-dehydrogenative coupling reaction introduced two polyfluoroarenes into simple polyaromatic hydrocarbons at sterically favourable positions. An investigation of the reaction mechanism revealed that the unique regioselectivity was determined by the reductive elimination step rather than the C-H bond cleavage step.