Halogen–Metal Exchange on Bromoheterocyclics with Substituents Containing an Acidic Proton via Formation of a Magnesium Intermediate

A selective and practical bromine-metal exchange on bromoheterocyclics bearing substituents with an acidic proton under non-cryogenic conditions was developed by a simple modification of an existing protocol. Our protocol of using a combination of i-PrMgCl and n-BuLi has not only solved the problem of intermolecular quenching that often occurred when using alkyl lithium alone as the reagent for halogen-lithium exchange, but also offered a highly selective method for performing bromo-metal exchange on dibrominated arene compounds through chelation effect.