Catalysed Aryl Amine Syntheses via Azides: From Azidation of Aryl Halides to Azide Reduction and Direct Amination

Abstract

This review summarises and discusses aryl amine and azide syntheses from aryl halides employing azides. The majority of the reported reactions proceed with copper catalysis or mediation. Often, an aryl azide is formed in the first step, which is then reduced in situ to an aryl amine in a second step. The occurrence of the second step, the reduction, depends on the chosen reaction conditions and the substrates. The formation of only aryl azides through Cu‐mediated C–N bond formations is discussed, followed by mediated and catalytic aryl azide reduction employing different catalytic systems, and azidation with in situ azide reduction to amines, viz. azidation‐amination strategies. The azidation‐amination allows for the synthesis of complex heterocycles in multi‐step one‐pot procedures, of which several are summarised here. Examples of the application of azidation‐amination for synthesising important aryl amines employed in or as biologically active compounds, catalysis and materials science are also summarised. Finally, conducted control reactions have been collected and discussed in combination with mechanistic proposals. This literature survey allows us to pinpoint design criteria for the azide reduction to valuable amines, which includes the choice of reaction conditions such as solvent system and additives, involved metal and promising substrates.