Room-Temperature Copper-Catalyzed Arylation of Dimethylamine and Methylamine in Neat Water

The first room-temperature copper-catalyzed arylations of dimethylamine and methylamine in neat water have been developed. Using a combination of CuI and 6,7-dihydroquinolin-8(5H)-one oxime as catalyst, dimethylamine is arylated with various aryl halides to give the corresponding products in good to excellent yields. Further, this catalysis enables the selective arylation of methylamine to afford the high yields of monoarylated methylamines as the sole products.