Rhodium-Catalyzed sp² C–H Acetoxylation of N‑Aryl Azaindoles/N‑Heteroaryl Indolines

A silver- and copper-free rhodium-catalyzed C–H acetoxylation reaction of azaindoles has been achieved at near ambient temperature employing PIDA as a nonmetallic acetoxy source. The method is highly selective, efficient, and scalable and requires acetic anhydride as the sole additive. The scope of the reaction has been successfully tested with a wide array of medicinally important heterocyclic scaffolds with diverse functional group tolerance. A series of kinetic experiments was conducted to gain detailed insight into the reaction mechanism. The methodology developed could be successfully expanded for C7-acetoxylation of indoline derivatives using pyrimidine as a detachable directing group for the synthesis of 7-hydroxyindole.