The direct functionalization of heterocyclic compounds has emerged as one of the most important topics in the field of metal-catalyzed C-H bond activation due to the fact that products are an important synthetic motif in organic synthesis, the pharmaceutical industry, and materials science. This critical review covers the recent progresses on the regioselective dehydrogenative direct coupling reaction of heteroarenes, including arylation, olefination, alkynylation, and amination/amidation mainly utilizing transition metal catalysts (113 references).

New synthetic procedures for intramolecular oxidative C-N bond formation have been developed for the preparation of carbazoles starting from N-substituted amidobiphenyls under either Cu-catalyzed or metal-free conditions using hypervalent iodine(III) as an oxidant. Whereas iodobenzene diacetate or bis(trifluoroacetoxy)iodobenzene alone undergoes the reaction to provide carbazole products in moderate to low yields, combined use of copper(II) triflate and the iodine(III) species significantly improves the reaction efficiency, giving a more diverse range of products in good to excellent yields. On the basis of mechanistic studies including kinetic profile, isotope effects, and radical inhibition experiments, the copper species is proposed to catalytically activate the hypervalent iodine(III) oxidants. The synthetic utility of the present approach was nicely demonstrated in a direct synthesis of indolo[3,2-b]carbazole utilizing a double C-N bond formation.

Two catalytic protocols of the oxidative C-C bond formation have been developed on the basis of the C-H bond activation of pyridine N-oxides. Pd-catalyzed alkenylation of the N-oxides proceeds with excellent regio-, stereo-, and chemoselectivity, and the corresponding ortho-alkenylated N-oxide derivatives are obtained in good to excellent yields. Direct cross-coupling reaction of pyridine N-oxides with unactivated arene was also developed in the presence of Pd catalyst and Ag oxidant, which affords ortho-arylated pyridine N-oxide products with high site-selectivity.

It is shown for the first time that N-sulfonyl amides can be efficiently prepared by an unconventional approach of the hydrative reaction between terminal alkynes, sulfonyl azides, and water in the presence of copper catalyst and amine base under very mild conditions. The present route is quite general, and a wide range of alkynes and sulfonyl azides are readily coupled catalytically with water to furnish amides in high yields. A variety of labile functional groups are tolerated under the conditions, and the reaction is regioselective in that only terminal alkynes react while double or internal triple bonds are intact. The reaction can be readily scaled up and is also adaptable to a solid-phase procedure with high efficiency.

A new synthetic approach toward intermolecular oxidative C-N bond formation of arenes has been developed under transition-metal-free conditions. Complete control of chemoselectivity between aryl sp(2) and benzylic sp(3) C-H bond imidation was achieved by the choice of nitrogen sources, representatively being phthalimide and dibenzenesulfonimide, respectively.