Copper-catalyzed C—H Amidation of Unactivated Arenes

Nicholas et al. have reported the copper-catalyzed C—H amidation of unactivated arenes. According to their results, the C—H amidation of unactivated arenes proceeds by using N-tosyloxytrichloroethylcarbamate as the N-reagent in the presence of a catalytic amount of tetrakis(acetonitrile)copper(I) hexafluorophosphate and neocuproine, affording the corresponding N-Troc aromatic amines. Since this reaction exhibits high selectivity for aromatic vs. benzylic substitution, alkyl benzenes are selectively converted to aromatic amines.