A Facile Access to Primary Alkylamines and Anilines via Ir(III)-Catalyzed C–H Amidation Using Azidoformates

Described herein is the development of Ir(III)-catalyzed direct C–H amidation using azidoformates as a readily deprotectable amino source. Substrates with unactivated methyl C(sp3)–H and aromatic or olefinic C(sp2)–H bonds were smoothly reacted by the iridium-based catalyst system to provide the corresponding primary alkylamines and anilines upon the subsequent removal of N-protecting groups, such as Boc, Fmoc, Cbz, pNZ, or Troc. A brief mechanistic study and synthetic applications are also presented.