An efficient and conceptually new method for oxidative amination of azoles with tertiary amines via copper-catalyzed C-H and C-N bond activation has been developed. This protocol can be performed in the absence of external base and only requires atmospheric oxygen as oxidant. The catalyst system is very simple and efficient, which opens a new way for using tertiary amines as nitrogen group sources for C-N bond formation reactions.

An efficient protocol for the generation of amines by palladium-catalyzed nucleophilic benzylic addition of 2-methyl-substituted azaarenes to N-sulfonyl aldimines under neutral conditions via C-H bond activation has been developed. This reaction represents a very efficient methodology for the synthesis of heterocycle-containing amines and thus opens a new way to access amines through C-H bond activation.

A new strategy for generating benzylpalladium reactive species from toluenes via nondirected C(sp(3))-H activation has been developed. This led to construction of an efficient Pd-catalyzed reaction protocol for the oxidative carboxylation of benzylic C-H bonds to form substituted 2-phenylacetic acid esters and derivatives from inexpensive, commercially available starting materials.