Metal-free three-component oxyazidation of alkenes with trimethylsilyl azide and N-hydroxyphthalimide.

A novel and facile oxyazidation of alkenes under metal-free and mild conditions has been reported. A remarkable feature of the developed procedure is consecutive construction of C-O and C-N bonds in one step. The process allows quick and selective assembly of alkyl azide from readily available starting materials, where N-hydroxyphthalimide was used as an oxygen-radical precursor and TMSN3 as the N3 source. A range of aromatic alkenes bearing synthetically useful functional groups was tolerated.