Accelerated and Scalable C(sp³)–H Amination via Decatungstate Photocatalysis Using a Flow Photoreactor Equipped with High-Intensity LEDs

Carbon-nitrogen bonds are ubiquitous in biologically active compounds, prompting synthetic chemists to design various methodologies for their preparation. Arguably, the ideal synthetic approach is to be able to directly convert omnipresent C-H bonds in organic molecules, enabling even late-stage functionalization of complex organic scaffolds. While this approach has been thoroughly investigated for C(sp²)-H bonds, only few examples have been reported for the direct amination of aliphatic C(sp³)-H bonds. Herein, we report the use of a newly developed flow photoreactor equipped with high intensity chip-on-board LED technology (144 W optical power) to trigger the regioselective and scalable C(sp³)-H amination via decatungstate photocatalysis. This high-intensity reactor platform enables simultaneously fast results gathering and scalability in a single device, thus bridging the gap between academic discovery (mmol scale) and industrial production (>2 kg/day productivity). The photocatalytic transformation is amenable to the conversion of both activated and nonactivated hydrocarbons, leading to protected hydrazine products by reaction with azodicarboxylates. We further validated the robustness of our manifold by designing telescoped flow approaches for the synthesis of pyrazoles, phthalazinones and free amines.