N-Heterocyclic carbene ligands bearing poly(ethylene glycol) chains: effect of the chain length on palladium-catalyzed coupling reactions employing aryl chlorides

N-Heterocyclic carbenes bearing poly(ethylene glycol) chains of different lengths have been designed and employed as ligands in palladium-catalyzed coupling reactions. The catalyst system having longer chains was found to be highly efficient for Suzuki–Miyaura coupling and borylation reactions employing aryl chlorides under mild reaction conditions.