Visible-light enabled room-temperature dealkylative imidation of secondary and tertiary amines promoted by aerobic ruthenium catalysis

Abstract

Employing sulfonyl azide as a nitrogen donor, a visible-light-enabled aerobic dealkylative imidation of tertiary and secondary amines involving C(sp³)–C(sp³) bond cleavage with moderate to excellent yields at room temperature is described. It has been demonstrated that this imidation could take place spontaneously upon visible-light irradiation, and could be facilitated considerably by a ruthenium photocatalyst and oxygen. An alternative mechanism to the previous aerobic photoredox pathway has also been proposed.