Synthesis and reactivity of pentavalent biphenyl-2,2′-ylenebismuth derivatives

Phenylbiphenyl-2,2′-ylenebismuth diacetate reacted with nucleophiles under basic conditions to give modest to good yields of the C-phenylated substrates. Under copper catalysis, it reacted with hydroxy or amino groups to give the products of O- or N-phenylation. In both sets of reaction conditions, this reagent showed a reduced reactivity compared to the analogous triphenylbismuth diacetate reagent. It showed also a high regioselectivity as only the phenyl derivatives were detected and isolated.