Nickel Dual Photoredox Catalysis for the Synthesis of Aryl Amines

In this work, a new dual photoredox nickel catalysis system has been utilized for the synthesize of aryl amines. Previously, our group has shown that a nickel catalyst in conjunction with a photosensitizer and a sacrificial electron donor can cross-couple C–C bonds via photoredox-assisted reductive coupling. Here we have built upon that system to develop a redox-neutral cross-coupling system for the formation of C–N bonds. The catalytic system is composed of just a nickel cross-coupling catalyst, a Ru photocatalyst, and base and is capable of coupling amines with aryl halides in good to excellent yields. Furthermore, it was found that these reactions are functional under ambient conditions with catalyst loadings of 1 mol %. Spectroscopic studies provide support that this amination mechanism proceeds via a nitrogen-based radical intermediate. This N-radical mechanism offers direct synthetic access to di- and triaryl amines from nickel photocatalysis.