Carbon-nitrogen (C-N) bonds are ubiquitous in pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, diverse bioactive natural products, and ligands for transition metal catalysts. An effective strategy for introducing a new C-N bond into a molecule is through transition metal-catalyzed nitrene transfer chemistry. In these reactions, a metal-supported nitrene can either add across a C═C bond to form an aziridine or insert into a C-H bond to furnish the corresponding amine. Typical catalysts for nitrene transfer include RhL and RuL complexes supported by bridging carboxylate and related ligands, as well as complexes based on Cu, Co, Ir, Fe, and Mn supported by porphyrins and related ligands. A limitation of metal-catalyzed nitrene transfer is the ability to predictably select which specific site will undergo amination in the presence of multiple reactive groups; thus, many reactions rely primarily on substrate control. Achieving true catalyst-control over nitrene transfer would open up exciting possibilities for flexible installation of new C-N bonds into hydrocarbons, natural product-inspired scaffolds, existing pharmaceuticals or biorenewable building blocks. Silver-catalyzed nitrene transfer enables flexible control over the position at which a new C-N bond is introduced. Ag(I) supported by simple N-donor ligands accommodates a diverse range of coordination geometries, from linear to tetrahedral to seesaw, enabling the electronic and steric parameters of the catalyst to be tuned independently. In addition, the ligand, Ag salt counteranion, Ag/ligand ratio and the solvent all influence the fluxional and dynamic behavior of Ag(I) complexes in solution. Understanding the interplay of these parameters to manipulate the behavior of Ag-nitrenes in a predictable manner is a key design feature of our work. In this Account, we describe successful applications of a variety of design principles to tunable, Ag-catalyzed aminations, including (1) changing Ag/ligand ratios to influence chemoselectivity, (2) manipulating the steric environment of the catalyst to achieve site-selective C-H bond amination, (3) promoting noncovalent interactions between Ag/substrate or substrate/ligand to direct C-H functionalization, and (4) dictating the substrate's trajectory of approach to the Ag-nitrene. Our catalysts distinguish between the aminations of various types of C-H bonds, including tertiary C(sp)-H, benzylic, allylic, and propargylic C-H bonds. Efforts in asymmetric nitrene transfer reactions catalyzed by Ag(I) complexes are also described.

An array of silver complexes supported by nitrogen-donor ligands catalyze the transformation of C═C and C-H bonds to valuable C-N bonds via nitrene transfer. The ability to achieve high chemoselectivity and site selectivity in an amination event requires an understanding of both the solid- and solution-state behavior of these catalysts. X-ray structural characterizations were helpful in determining ligand features that promote the formation of monomeric versus dimeric complexes. Variable-temperature H and DOSY NMR experiments were especially useful for understanding how the ligand identity influences the nuclearity, coordination number, and fluxional behavior of silver(I) complexes in solution. These insights are valuable for developing improved ligand designs.

Metal-catalyzed nitrene transfer reactions are an appealing and efficient strategy for accessing tetrasubstituted amines through the direct amination of tertiary C-H bonds. Traditional catalysts for these reactions rely on substrate control to achieve site-selectivity in the C-H amination event; thus, tunability is challenging when competing C-H bonds have similar steric or electronic features. One consequence of this fact is that the impact of catalyst identity on the selectivity in the competitive amination of tertiary C-H bonds has not been well-explored, despite the potential for progress towards predictable and catalyst-controlled C-N bond formation. In this communication, we report investigations into tunable and site-selective nitrene transfers between tertiary C(sp)-H bonds using a combination of transition metal catalysts, including complexes based on Ag, Mn, Rh and Ru. Particularly striking was the ability to reverse the selectivity of nitrene transfer by a simple change in the identity of the N-donor ligand supporting the Ag(i) complex. The combination of our Ag(i) catalysts with known Rh(ii) complexes expands the scope of successful catalyst-controlled intramolecular nitrene transfer and represents a promising springboard for the future development of intermolecular C-H N-group transfer methods.

Transition metal-catalyzed nitrene transfer is a powerful method for incorporating new CN bonds into relatively unfunctionalized scaffolds. In this communication, we report the first examples of site- and chemoselective CH bond amination reactions in aqueous media. The unexpected ability to employ water as the solvent in these reactions is advantageous in that it eliminates toxic solvent use and enables reactions to be run at increased concentrations with lower oxidant loadings. Using water as the reaction medium has potential to expand the scope of nitrene transfer to encompass a variety of biomolecules and highly polar substrates, as well as enable pH control over the site-selectivity of CH bond amination.

Deuterochloroform (CDCl) is a common deuterated solvent for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analyses. The synthesis of significant amounts of CDCl for both research use and large undergraduate organic laboratories in a safe and inexpensive manner is appealing. Herein, we describe a convenient laboratory scale preparation of CDCl that employs a reduction and decarboxylation of hexachloro-2-propanone (HCP) catalyzed by various pyridines. A PVP catalyst gives cleaner reaction and greater catalyst stability through multiple rounds of recycling, justifying its higher cost compared to pyridine.