Mechanochemical Iridium(III)-Catalyzed C-H Bond Amidation of Benzamides with Sulfonyl Azides under Solvent-Free Conditions in a Ball Mill.

Mechanochemical conditions have been applied to an iridium(III)-catalyzed C-H bond amidation process for the first time. In the absence of solvent, the mechanochemical activation enables the formation of an iridium species that catalyzes the ortho-selective amidation of benzamides with sulfonyl azides as the nitrogen source. As the reaction proceeds in the absence of organic solvents without external heating and yields the desired products in excellent yields within short reaction times, this method constitutes a powerful, fast, and environmentally benign alternative to the common solvent-based standard approaches.