Table 5.

Substrate scope of aryl bromides in the α-arylation of aryl benzyl thioethers.

entry	S–Ar	–CH2–Ar	Br–Ar	product	yield (%)
1				4l	80a
2				4m	97a
3				4n	83b
4				4o	60
5				4i	77b
6				4p	70
7				4q	65b
8				4e	60a
9				4r	74a
10				4s	74
11				4t	56c
12				4u	70c
13				4v	71c
14				4x	57c

^a1 h.

^bSlow addition of base for 40 min, 15 min.

^cKO-tBu as base, 50°C for 30 min reaction time.