Cu-Catalyzed Electrophilic Amination of Organozinc Compounds

Significance

This work describes a novel versatile method for the preparation of widely used dialkylaryl- or trialkylamines. The reaction can be considered as a copper-catalyzed electrophilic amination of alkyl- and arylzinc reagents. The first step of the method involves an improved protocol for the formation of O-benzoylhydroxylamines from primary and secondary amines and benzoyl peroxide. The second step represents a Cu-catalyzed coupling with dialkyl- or diarylzinc reagent. The method is simple, does not require expensive reagents, and has a broad scope (any secondary and tertiary amines are achievable, except triaryl­amines). It undoubtedly will find a great number of applications in organic chemistry, especially for the synthesis of biologically active molecules.