Synthesis of Arylamines via Aminium Radicals

Arylamines constitute the core structure of many therapeutic agents, agrochemicals, and organic materials. The development of methods for the efficient and selective construction of these structural motifs from simple building blocks is desirable but still challenging. We demonstrate that protonated electron-poor O-aryl hydroxylamines give aminium radicals in the presence of Ru(bpy)(3)Cl-2. These highly electrophilic species undergo polarized radical addition to aromatic compounds in high yield and selectivity. We successfully applied this method to the late-stage modification of chiral catalyst templates, therapeutic agents, and natural products.