Copper-catalyzed decarboxylative C-N coupling for N-arylation

A novel approach for N-arylation utilizing aryl carboxylic acids as stable, inexpensive and widely available arylating reagents was developed. Employing a simple copper(II)-phenanthroline catalyst system, several benzoic acids bearing suitable ortho-substitutions undergo decarboxylative C-N cross-coupling effectively with various N-nucleophiles.