Cross-dehydrogenative coupling of α-C(sp³)–H of ethers/alkanes with C(sp²)–H of heteroarenes under metal-free conditions

Abstract

Here we have developed an effective metal-free dehydrogenative coupling method wherein α-oxyalkyl and alkyl radicals were generated from various ethers and alkanes to undergo coupling with a variety of electron-deficient heteroarenes such as un/substituted iso-quinolones, quinolines, pyridines, pyrazines and pyrimidines. The persulfate-acetone-water system was optimized for the dehydrogenative coupling with cyclic ethers which gave moderate to excellent yields of α-oxyalkyl containing heteroarenes. We have also optimized the conditions for coupling with cyclic alkanes and alicyclic ethers and demonstrated by conducting the reactions with a variety of electron-deficient heteroarenes. Further, the present method is also applicable to electron deficient arenes like naphthoquinones and moreover, it didn't require any external acid.