Cp*Ir(III)-Catalyzed Mild and Broad C−H Arylation of Arenes and Alkenes with Aryldiazonium Salts Leading to the External Oxidant-Free Approach

Reported herein is the development of Cp*Ir­(III)-catalyzed direct C−H arylation of arenes and alkenes using aryldiazonium tetrafluoroborates, the use of which as an aryl precursor and also as an oxidant via C−N₂ bond cleavage was a key to success in achieving a mild and external oxidant-free procedure. Mechanistic experiments and DFT calculations revealed the turnover-limiting step to be closely related to the formation of an Ir­(V)-aryl intermediate rather than the presupposed C−H cleavage. Under the developed mild arylation conditions, a wide range of benzamides were smoothly arylated. In addition, synthetic utility of the current C−H arylation procedure was also demonstrated successfully for the (<i>Z</i>)-selective arylation of enamides and C8-selective reaction of quinoline <i>N</i>-oxides