The visible light-induced C-H arylation of azoles has been accomplished by dual-catalytic system with the aid of an inexpensive ligand-free copper(i)-catalyst in combination with a suitable photoredox catalyst. An organic photoredox catalyst, 10-phenylphenothiazine (PTH), was identified as effective, cost-efficient and environmentally-benign alternative to commonly-used, expensive Ir(iii)-based complexes. The method proved applicable for the C-H arylation of various azole derivatives, including oxazoles, benzoxazoles, thiazoles, benzothiazoles as well as more challenging imidazoles and benzimidazoles. Moreover, the derivatization of complex molecules and the gram scale synthesis of the natural product balsoxin reflected the synthetic utility of the developed strategy. Mechanistic studies were indicative of a single electron transfer-based (SET) mechanism with an aryl radical as key intermediate.
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