Co(II)-Catalyzed Additive-Free Transfer Hydrogenation of -Heteroarenes at Room Temperature.

Traditional catalyst development relies on multistep synthesis and isolation of ligand and precatalyst. Designing a catalytic system that can be assembled from easily accessible starting materials can decrease the reaction complexity and enhance the synthetic utility. Herein, we report an inexpensive and commercially available CoBr·HO/terpyridine-catalyzed effective and straightforward transfer hydrogenation (TH) protocol for -heteroarenes, utilizing NH·BH (AB) under ambient conditions. Synthesis of diverse substrates and bioactive molecules demonstrated a practical applicability. Control experiments and DFT studies elucidate the mechanism.