Aliphatic Amines Unlocked for Selective Transformations through Diazotization

While aromatic diazonium salts are important reagents in organic synthesis, 'Diazonium ions generated from ordinary aliphatic primary amines are usually useless for preparative purposes, since they lead to a mixture of products giving not only substitution by any nucleophile present, but also elimination and rearrangements if the substrate permits.'¹ In this work, we report that this statement is no longer valid, and it is now possible to control diazotization of aliphatic amines by utilizing isopentyl nitrite in HFIP. This transformation enabled electrophilic aromatic substitution with these highly abundant and commercially available alkyl reagents, as well as transforming them into building blocks typically employed in organic synthesis. The methodology opens an avenue for reactions involving aliphatic amines, even such demanding substrates as amino acids, as a source of carbocations thus expanding the degree of chemical space.