Rhenium-Catalyzed Dehydrogenative Coupling of Alcohols and Amines to Afford Nitrogen-Containing Aromatics and More

An efficient synthesis of quinolines, pyrimidines, quinoxalines, pyrroles, and aminomethylated aromatic compounds catalyzed by a well-defined Re(I) PNP pincer complex is described. All reactions proceed with liberation of dihydrogen and elimination of water. Under optimized reaction conditions a wide range of organic functional groups are tolerated. This study demonstrates that rhenium catalysts are performing extremely well in dehydrogenative processes with considerably lower catalyst loadings and shorter reaction times when compared to analogous Mn(I) complexes.