The Acid-Free Cyclopropanol-Minisci Reaction Reveals the Catalytic Role of Silver-Pyridine Complexes

A well-defined homogeneous silver precatalyst can be utilized for the direct C-H functionalization of a wide range of aromatic nitrogen heterocycles with cyclopropanols under acid-free conditions. This reaction can be conducted on gram-scale and with low catalyst loadings (as low as 1%), which is rare for silver-catalyzed Minisci-type reactions. Moreover, reactivity trends, as well as steric and calculated electronic properties of the heterocycles, strongly suggest that silver-heterocycle complexes formed in situ behave as redox active catalysts and as Lewis acid activators of the heterocycle and that the electronic nature of the heterocyclic substrates tunes the reactivity of the resulting complexes.