A General and Mild Copper-Catalyzed Arylation of Diethyl Malonate

A general method for the synthesis of α-aryl malonates is described. The coupling of an aryl iodide and diethyl malonate in the presence of Cs2CO3 and catalytic amounts of copper(I) iodide and 2-phenylphenol affords the α-aryl malonate in good to excellent yields. The mild reaction conditions and high levels of functional group compatibility make this an attractive synthetic alternative to previous methods.