Iodine-Mediated Oxidative N−N Coupling of Secondary Amines to Hydrazines

An I2-mediated N–N coupling reaction has been established for oxidative dimerization of N-aryl aminopyridines to a variety of novel hydrazine derivatives under mild conditions. This synthetic method does not require use of transition metals and can be conveniently carried out on a gram scale. It is also applicable to diphenylamine and N-alkyl aniline substrates.