C-H, N-H dehydrogenative coupling of quinoline N-oxides with lactams/cyclamines has been achieved in the presence of the Cu(OAc)2 catalyst to give good to excellent yields. This study provides a new strategy for the construction of a 2-aminoquinoline skeleton via direct functionalization of aryl C-H bonds.

A method for Pd-catalyzed aerobic oxidative reaction of quinazolinones and alkynes has been developed for sequential [4 + 2] and [3 + 2] cycloadditions to assemble a novel fused-polycyclic system containing tetrahydropyridine and dihydrofuran rings. The reaction process involves C-H and N-H bond functionalization for the formation of tetrahydropyridine and an oxygen radical cyclization for the dihydrofuran ring. This atom- and step-economical synthesis is highly efficient and has good substrate tolerance, which provides a new approach for the construction of polycyclic molecules with potential pharmaceutical interest.

The first example of transition-metal-catalyzed ortho/meta-selective dual C-H functionalizations of arenes in one reaction is described. In this transformation, ortho-C-H chlorination and meta-C-H sulfonation of 2-phenoxypyri(mi)dines were achieved simultaneously under catalysis by [Ru(p-cymene)Cl]. The other reactant, namely, an arylsulfonyl chloride, played the role of both a sulfonation and chlorination reagent. More importantly, the arylsulfonyl chloride was also an oxidant in the process. Mechanistic studies indicated that six-membered ruthenacycles were the key intermediate in the reaction.

meta/ortho-Selective C-H (di)alkylation reactions of azoarenes have been achieved via [Ru(p-cymene)Cl] catalyzed ortho-metalation using various types of alkyl bromides. Particularly, dual meta-alkylation of azoarene and reduction offer an attractive strategy for the synthesis of meta-alkylanilines, which are difficult to access via traditional aniline functionalization methods.