Process for dimerization, arylation and trifluoromethylation of aromatic and heterocyclic compounds

A process for coupling compounds which comprises the steps of (1) reacting a monosilver salt compound having only one silver salt group per molecule selected from the group consisting of unsaturated, aliphatic carboxylic acids having 1 to 3 carbon-to-carbon double bonds and 3 to 26 carbon atoms, aromatic carboxylic acids, the aromatic groups of said aromatic carboxylic acids selected from the group consisting of phenyl, biphenyl, naphthyl, phenanthryl and anthranyl groups, and heterocyclic acids, the heterocyclic groups of said heterocyclic carboxylic acids being selected from the group consisting of thienyl, pyridyl, benzothienyl, thienobenzenyl, quinolyl, isoquinolyl, dibenzothienyl and phenanthridyl groups and mixtures thereof at a temperature within the range from about 100.degree. to 500.degree. C., (2) extracting the cooled mixture of silver and product with a solvent to recover the product by distillation or, alternatively, collecting the volatile products from the reactor in a cooled receiver and (3) recovering the silver metal.