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Updated: Oct 29, 2025

A Microwave-Assisted Direct Heteroarylation of Ketones Using Transition Metal Catalysis
Published on: February 16, 2020
Practical iridium-catalyzed direct α-arylation of N-heteroarenes with (hetero)arylboronic acids by H2O-mediated H2
Liang Cao1, He Zhao1, Rongqing Guan1
1Key Lab of Functional Molecular Engineering of Guangdong Province, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China.
Abstract:
Despite the widespread applications of 2-(hetero)aryl N-heteroarenes in numerous fields of science and technology, universal access to such compounds is hampered due to the lack of a general method for their synthesis. Herein, by a H2O-mediated H2-evolution cross-coupling strategy, we report an iridium(III)-catalyzed facile method to direct α-arylation of N-heteroarenes with both aryl and heteroaryl boronic acids, proceeding with broad substrate scope and excellent functional compatibility, oxidant and reductant-free conditions, operational simplicity, easy scalability, and no need for prefunctionalization of N-heteroarenes. This method is applicable for structural modification of biomedical molecules, and offers a practical route for direct access to 2-(hetero)aryl N-heteroarenes, a class of potential cyclometalated C^N ligands and N^N bidentate ligands that are difficult to prepare with the existing α-C-H arylation methods, thus filling an important gap in the capabilities of synthetic organic chemistry.
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