Ligand-Free Iron/Copper-Cocatalyzed Amination of Aryl Iodides

The Fe2O3/CuI system efficiently catalyzes the direct amination of aryl iodides with aqueous ammonia in ethanol at 90 degrees C under aerobic conditions. No ligand was used to perform such reaction. A very wide variety of functional groups was tolerated on the aryl iodide partner. This procedure is economically and environmentally attractive as a result of the use of aqueous ammonia and ethanol. (C) Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2009)