Current methods for functional group interconversion have, for the most part, relied on relatively strong driving forces which often require highly reactive reagents to generate irreversibly a desired product in high yield and selectivity. These approaches generally prevent the use of the same catalytic strategy to perform the reverse reaction. Here we describe a catalytic functional group metathesis approach to interconvert, under CO-free conditions, two synthetically important classes of electrophiles that are often employed in the preparation of pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals—aroyl chlorides (ArCOCl) and aryl iodides (ArI). Our reaction design relies on the implementation of a key reversible ligand C–P bond cleavage event, which enables a non-innocent, metathesis-active phosphine ligand to mediate a rapid aryl group transfer between the two different electrophiles. Beyond enabling a practical and safer approach to the interconversion of ArCOCl and ArI, this type of ligand non-innocence provides a blueprint for the development of a broad range of functional group metathesis reactions employing synthetically relevant aryl electrophiles.

当前用于官能团互变的方法大部分依赖于相对强的驱动力，该驱动力通常需要高反应性的试剂以高收率和选择性不可逆地产生所需产物。这些方法通常阻止使用相同的催化策略进行逆反应。在这里，我们描述了一种催化官能团复分解方法，可在无CO条件下相互转化两类重要的亲电试剂，通常用于制备药物和农用化学品：芳酰氯（ArCOCl）和芳基碘化物（ArI）。我们的反应设计依赖于关键的可逆配体C–P键裂解事件的实施，这可以实现非清白的，复分解活性膦配体介导两个不同亲电试剂之间快速的芳基转移。除了为ArCOCl和ArI的相互转化提供一种实用且更安全的方法外，这种类型的配体非无毒性为开发使用合成相关的芳基亲电试剂的各种官能团复分解反应提供了一个蓝图。