Mechanistic Study of Domino Rearrangement-Promoted Meta C-H Activation in 2-Methyl- N-methoxyaniline via Cu(NHC)+: Motivation and Selectivity

Org Lett. 2020 Dec 4;22(23):9178-9183. doi: 10.1021/acs.orglett.0c03004. Epub 2020 Nov 16.

Abstract

Here we report a detailed theoretical study of the mechanism of Cu+-catalyzed domino rearrangement of 2-methyl-N-methoxyaniline with a deep understanding of the unique motivation and selectivity of these migrations. We find that the Cu+ catalyst accelerates the [1,3]-methoxy migration to the methyl-bound ortho position of umpolung phenyl. The following domino transfer prefers methyl [1,2]-migration, and the rate-determining step for the whole reaction is the transfer of a proton from the phenyl ring to amine to finish the catalytic cycle.