Ruthenium-catalyzed meta/ortho-selective C-H alkylation of azoarenes using alkyl bromides

Chem Commun (Camb). 2017 Jan 19;53(7):1261-1264. doi: 10.1039/c6cc09323j.

Abstract

meta/ortho-Selective CAr-H (di)alkylation reactions of azoarenes have been achieved via [Ru(p-cymene)Cl2]2 catalyzed ortho-metalation using various types of alkyl bromides. Particularly, dual meta-alkylation of azoarene and reduction offer an attractive strategy for the synthesis of meta-alkylanilines, which are difficult to access via traditional aniline functionalization methods.