The first example of simple oxidative addition of an aryl chloride to a discrete palladium (n-heterocyclic carbene) amination precatalyst

The oxidative addition of an aryl chloride to a discrete palladium n-heteocyclic carbene amination precatalyst, was discussed. It was found that the oxidative addition of 4-chlorotoluene to Pd(0) resulted in the formation of not a four-coordinate complex but rather the arylated imidazolium salt. The identity of imidazolium salt was confirmed by x-ray crystallography.