Photocatalytic C–H amination of electron-rich arenes by novel fused quinoline-based photocatalysts

Abstract

A modular synthesis of novel fused quinoline-based photocatalysts via the Povarov reaction was developed by employing aromatic amines, aromatic aldehydes, and acenaphthylene as raw materials. The catalyst can be protonated in the presence of HBF₄ to generate a highly active photocatalytic species (PC) in situ, resulting in an excited-state reduction potential of +2.31 V. Under 450 nm visible-light irradiation, this system can smoothly catalyze the C(sp²)–H amination of electron-rich arenes with azoles and exhibits good regioselectivity for a set of substrates.