Highly practical synthesis of nitriles and heterocycles from alcohols under mild conditions by aerobic double dehydrogenative catalysis

摘要

A mild, aerobic, catalytic process for obtaining nitriles directly from alcohols and aqueous ammonia is described. The reaction proceeds via a dehydrogenation cascade mediated by catalytic CuI, bpy, and TEMPO in the presence of O_2. The substrate scope is broad including various functionalized aromatic and aliphatic alcohols. This protocol enabled the one-pot synthesis of various biaryl heterocycles directly from commercially available alcohols.