“…Beside the proposed aerobic photoredox mechanism, 7 a plausible alternative mechanism was therefore proposed according to the experimental observations discussed above and previously reported literatures. 5,7,13,14 This mechanism comprises two processes: the anaerobic ruthenium-promoted photoredox SET dehydrogenation process to form enamine intermediate; and the cycloaddition and ring-opening decomposition process facilitated by aerobic ruthenium photocatalysis to afford the nal amidine product (Scheme 3). Initially, SET oxidation of amine 2a by the excited state *Ru n produced via photoexcitation of the higher valent ruthenium catalyst forms tertiary amine radical cation A, 7 along with the reduced ruthenium species Ru nÀ1 , which undergoes another SET process with the azide TsN 3 , giving azide radical anion B 5c, 13 and closing the ruthenium catalytic cycle.…”