Dibenzothiophenesulfilimines: A Convenient Approach to Intermolecular Rhodium-Catalysed C-H Amidation.

A sulfilimine-based Group 9 transition-metal-catalysed C-H amidation procedure is reported. Dibenzothiophene-based sulfilimines were shown to constitute a class of novel amidation reagents which enable the transfer of a wide range of N-sulfonyl and N-acyl moieties. It was demonstrated that sulfilimines, which are easily accessible from cheap reagents, are safe-to-handle and represent broadly applicable amidation reagents. The dibenzothiophene can be recycled after use. The C-H amidation was shown to proceed with high selectivity and gave the mono-amidated products, mostly in good to excellent yields.