Benzolactams have unique biological activity and high utility in the synthesis of valuable compounds with direct applicability to oxindole alkaloids and antibacterial agents. Despite recent advances in organic chemistry and the growing number of reported methods for synthesizing benzolactams, their preparation still requires a multistep process. C-H amination reactions can convert aromatic C(sp2)-H bonds directly to C(sp2)-N bonds, and this direct approach to C-N bond formation offers effective access to benzolactams. Hypervalent iodine reagents are promising tools for achieving oxidative C-H amination. Motivated by our ongoing research efforts toward the development of useful hypervalent-iodine-mediated oxidative transformations, we herein describe an effective intramolecular oxidative C-H amination reaction based on μ-oxo hypervalent iodine catalysis for the synthesis of benzolactams bearing various functional groups.
Keywords: C–H amination; benzolactam; cyclization; hypervalent iodine catalysis; μ-oxo catalyst.