Pd/Cu-Catalyzed aerobic oxidative aromatic C-H bond activation/N-dealkylative carbonylation towards the synthesis of phenanthridinones

Chem Commun (Camb). 2017 Feb 2;53(11):1908-1911. doi: 10.1039/c6cc08701a.

Abstract

It is important to achieve diverse functionalization of tertiary anilines due to their importance in biological molecules, pharmaceutical, functional materials, and ligands. A straightforward Pd/Cu-catalyzed oxidative C-H bond activation/N-dealkylative carbonylation of tertiary [1,1'-biphenyl]-2-anilines towards the synthesis of various biologically important phenanthridin-6(5H)-ones has been developed. A wide range of functional groups are well tolerated in this transformation. Moreover, O2 is utilized as the terminal oxidant to promote the oxidative carbonylation process.