A Bioinspired Catalytic Aerobic Oxidative CH Functionalization of Primary Aliphatic Amines: Synthesis of 1,2-Disubstituted Benzimidazoles

Aerobic oxidative CH functionalization of primary aliphatic amines has been accomplished with a biomimetic cooperative catalytic system to furnish 1,2-disubstituted benzimidazoles that play an important role as drug discovery targets. This one-pot atom-economical multistep process, which proceeds under mild conditions, with ambient air and equimolar amounts of each coupling partner, constitutes a convenient environmentally friendly strategy to functionalize non-activated aliphatic amines that remain challenging substrates for non-enzymatic catalytic aerobic systems.