Dehydrogenative Azolation of Arenes in a Microflow Electrochemical Reactor

The electrochemical synthesis of aryl azoles was performed for the first time in a microflow reactor. The reaction relies on the anodic oxidation of the arene partners making these substrates susceptible for C-H functionalization with azoles, thus requiring no homogeneous transition-metal-based catalysts. The synthetic protocol benefits from the implementation of a microflow setup, leading to shorter residence times (10 min), compared to previously reported batch systems. Various azolated compounds (22 examples) are obtained in good to excellent yields.

Automated summary

The electrochemical synthesis of aryl azoles was successfully conducted in a microflow reactor for the first time, avoiding the need for homogeneous transition-metal-based catalysts. By implementing a microflow setup, shorter residence times and good to excellent yields of various azolated compounds were achieved.