Pincer complexes have been shown to catalyse Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reactions, a versatile carbon-carbon bond forming reaction.
Typical Suzuki coupling employ Pd(0) catalysts with monodentate tertiary phosphine ligands (e.g. Pd(PPh)). It is a very selective method to couple aryl substituents together, but requires elevated temperatures.
Using PCP pincer-palladium catalysts, aryl-aryl couplings can be achieved with turnover numbers (TONs) upwards of 900,000 and high yields. Additionally, other groups have found that very low catalyst loadings can be achieved with asymmetric palladium pincer complexes. Catalyst loadings of 0.0001 mol % have been found to have TONs upwards of 190,000 and upper limit TONs can reach 1,100,000.