Facile Synthesis of Unsymmetrical Acridines and Phenazines by a Rhodium(III)-Catalyzed Amination Cyclization and Aromatization Cascade

摘要

New formal [3 + 3] annulations have been developed to obtain acridines and phenazines from aromatic azides and aromatic imines and azobenzenes, respectively. These transformations proceed through a cascade process of Rh(III)-catalyzed amination followed by intramolecular electrophilic aromatic substitution and aromatization. Acridines can be directly prepared from aromatic aldehydes by in situ imine formation using catalytic benzylamine.