Volume 64, Issue 24 e202504459
Communication

Electrochemical Amination of Aryl Halides with NH3

Yaowen Liu

Yaowen Liu

State Key Laboratory and Institute of Elemento-Organic Chemistry, Frontiers Science Center for New Organic Matter, Haihe Laboratory of Sustainable Chemical Transformations, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, 94 Weijin Road, Tianjin, 300071 China

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Yanfei Sun

Yanfei Sun

State Key Laboratory and Institute of Elemento-Organic Chemistry, Frontiers Science Center for New Organic Matter, Haihe Laboratory of Sustainable Chemical Transformations, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, 94 Weijin Road, Tianjin, 300071 China

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Yuan Deng

Yuan Deng

State Key Laboratory and Institute of Elemento-Organic Chemistry, Frontiers Science Center for New Organic Matter, Haihe Laboratory of Sustainable Chemical Transformations, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, 94 Weijin Road, Tianjin, 300071 China

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Youai Qiu

Corresponding Author

Youai Qiu

State Key Laboratory and Institute of Elemento-Organic Chemistry, Frontiers Science Center for New Organic Matter, Haihe Laboratory of Sustainable Chemical Transformations, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, 94 Weijin Road, Tianjin, 300071 China

E-mail: [email protected]

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First published: 09 April 2025
Citations: 1

Graphical Abstract

A General and Efficient Method for the Direct Synthesis of Primary Arylamines Through Electrochemical Amination of Aryl Halides With NH3 Has Been Developed. The Weak Nucleophilic Reagent NH3 Acted as an Ammonia Surrogate. This Approach Shows Good Functional Group Tolerance and a Broad Scope of Functionalized Primary Arylamines That Can be Further Late-stage Modification of Drug Molecules and Gram-scale Reaction Demonstrate Its Synthetic Utility.

Abstract

Primary arylamines are the most pivotal class of organic motifs in pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, ligands and natural products. Ammonia (NH3) is an ideal nitrogen source in terms of reactivity, atom economy, and environmental compatibility. Despite significant progress in the synthesis of primary arylamines, the development of a general method for rapid access to diversely functionalized primary arylamines is still urgent and necessary. Herein, we developed a method for the direct synthesis of primary arylamines through electrochemical amination of aryl halides with NH3. Notably, the weak nucleophilic reagent NH3 was directly used as an ammonia surrogate, allowing for efficient conversion of carbon-halogen bonds to diverse primary arylamines with good functional group tolerance. A broad scope of functionalized primary arylamines has been achieved in moderate to excellent yields.

Conflict of Interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Data Availability Statement

Materials and methods, optimization studies, experimental procedures, mechanistic studies, 1H NMR, 13C NMR spectra, and high-resolution mass spectrometry data are available in the Supplementary Information.

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