Iridium-catalyzed acceptorless dehydrogenative coupling of tertiary amines and arylamines has been developed. A number of benzimidazoles were prepared in good yields. An iridium-mediated C-H activation mechanism is suggested. This finding represents a novel strategy for the synthesis of benzimidazoles.
Synthesis of Benzimidazoles via Iridium-Catalyzed Acceptorless Dehydrogenative Coupling. -An intramolecular coupling of tertiary amines and anilines is developed starting from 2-(N,N-dialkylamino)anilines. The often high reaction yields depend on the electronic properties of the aniline as well as the tertiary amines' substituents, while the regioselectivity is influenced by the steric hindrance of the tertiary amine. -(SUN, X.; LV, X.-H.; YE, L.-M.; HU, Y.; CHEN, Y.-Y.; ZHANG, X.-J.; YAN*, M.; Org. Biomol. Chem. 13 (2015) 27, 7381-7383, http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C5OB00904A ; Inst. Drug Synth. Pharm. Process, Sch. Pharm. Sci., Sun Yat-Sen Univ.,
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