Aerobic C–N bond activation: a simple strategy to construct pyridines and quinolines

Abstract

Inspired by the autoxidation processes, a dioxygen induced C–N bond activation of primary alkyl amines was demonstrated toward the synthesis of pyridines and quinolines. The transition-metal free conditions with O₂ as the sole oxidant make this transformation very attractive. Notably, the substrate applicability of different kinds of ketones is greatly broadened for this transformation.