Highly Chemoselective Deoxygenation of N-Heterocyclic N-Oxides Using Hantzsch Esters as Mild Reducing Agents

Herein, we disclose a highly chemoselective room-temperature deoxygenation method applicable to various functionalized N-heterocyclic N-oxides via visible light-mediated metallaphotoredox catalysis using Hantzsch esters as the sole stoichiometric reductant. Despite the feasibility of catalyst-free conditions, most of these deoxygenations can be completed within a few minutes using only a tiny amount of a catalyst. This technology also allows for multigram-scale reactions even with an extremely low catalyst loading of 0.01 mol %. The scope of this scalable and operationally convenient protocol encompasses a wide range of functional groups, such as amides, carbamates, esters, ketones, nitrile groups, nitro groups, and halogens, which provide access to the corresponding deoxygenated N-heterocycles in good to excellent yields (an average of an 86.8% yield for a total of 45 examples).