Free-Radical Deoxygenative Amination of Alcohols via Copper Metallaphotoredox Catalysis

J Am Chem Soc. 2024 Jun 12;146(23):15681-15687. doi: 10.1021/jacs.4c04477. Epub 2024 May 30.

Abstract

Alcohols are among the most abundant chemical feedstocks, yet they remain vastly underutilized as coupling partners in transition metal catalysis. Herein, we describe a copper metallaphotoredox manifold for the open shell deoxygenative coupling of alcohols with N-nucleophiles to forge C(sp3)-N bonds, a linkage of high value in pharmaceutical agents that is challenging to access via conventional cross-coupling techniques. N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)-mediated conversion of alcohols into the corresponding alkyl radicals followed by copper-catalyzed C-N coupling renders this platform successful for a broad range of structurally unbiased alcohols and 18 classes of N-nucleophiles.