Dioxygen-coupled oxidative amination of styrene.

Dioxygen-coupled oxidative amination of olefins is an attractive, but challenging, catalytic transformation. The present work describes the first general method for intermolecular oxidative amination of aryl olefins with molecular oxygen as the stoichiometric oxidant. This palladium-catalyzed reactivity is compatible with several different nitrogen nucleophiles, including oxazolidinone, phthalimide, pyrrolidinone, and p-toluenesulfonamide. The presence of a catalytic quantity of a Brønsted base in the reaction increases the catalytic activity and switches the reaction regioselectivity.