The defining chemical moiety in most NSAIDs and other drugs is the alpha-aryl substituted acetic acids. Transition metal-catalyzed coupling of substituted acetic acids to aryl groups via traceless enolate protecting groups should provide easy synthetic access to these structures.

Although processes for the catalyzed coupling of silver, potassium, magnesium, lithium, and silicon enediolates have been reported, limitations associated with the respective procedures have curtailed their industrial and research applications. Boron enolates are considered superior to other metal enolates, especially for directed addition to electrophiles. They are particularly useful for highly electron withdrawing groups like CF₃ and NO₂ enolates. In this project, we are developing a method for the direct catalyzed coupling of bis-boron enediolates with aryl halides which will be important for the single-step catalytic synthesis of NSAIDs.