The leaving group X is usually chloride, bromide, or iodide, but triflate and acetyloxy groups are feasible as well. X = Cl usually leads to slow reactions.
The Negishi coupling finds common use in the field of total synthesis as a method for selectively forming C-C bonds between complex synthetic intermediates. The reaction allows for the coupling of sp3, sp2, and sp carbon atoms, (see orbital hybridization) which make it somewhat unusual among the palladium-catalyzed coupling reactions. Organozincs are moisture and air sensitive, so the Negishi coupling must be performed in an oxygen and water free environment, a fact that has hindered its use relative to other cross-coupling reactions that require less robust conditions (i.e. Suzuki reaction). However, organozincs are more reactive than both organostannanes and organoborates which correlates to faster reaction times.
Negishi and coworkers originally investigated the cross-coupling of organoaluminum reagents in 1976 initially employing Ni and Pd as the transition metal catalysts, but noted that Ni resulted in the decay of stereospecifity whereas Pd did not.[6] Transitioning from organoaluminum species to organozinc compounds Negishi and coworkers reported the use of Pd complexes in organozinc coupling reactions and carried out methods studies, eventually developing the reaction conditions into those commonly utilized today.[7] Alongside Richard F. Heck and Akira Suzuki, El-ichi Negishi was a co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2010, for his work on "palladium-catalyzed cross couplings in organic synthesis".
^King AO, Okukado N, Negishi Ei (1977). "Highly general stereo-, regio-, and chemo-selective synthesis of terminal and internal conjugated enynes by the Pd-catalysed reaction of alkynylzinc reagents with alkenyl halides". Journal of the Chemical Society, Chemical Communications (19): 683. doi:10.1039/C39770000683.
^Kürti L, Czakó B (2007). Strategic applications of named reactions in organic synthesis : background and detailed mechanisms ; 250 named reactions. Amsterdam: Elsevier Academic Press. ISBN978-0-12-429785-2.
^Baba S, Negishi E (1976). "A novel stereospecific alkenyl-alkenyl cross-coupling by a palladium- or nickel-catalyzed reaction of alkenylalanes with alkenyl halides". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 98 (21): 6729–6731. doi:10.1021/ja00437a067.
^Negishi E, King AO, Okukado N (1977). "Selective carbon-carbon bond formation via transition metal catalysis. 3. A highly selective synthesis of unsymmetrical biaryls and diarylmethanes by the nickel- or palladium-catalyzed reaction of aryl- and benzylzinc derivatives with aryl halides". The Journal of Organic Chemistry. 42 (10): 1821–1823. doi:10.1021/jo00430a041.