Electrochemical Benzylic C(sp3)–H Direct Amidation

Amide bonds are ubiquitous and found in a myriad of functional molecules. Although formed in a reliable and robust fashion, alternative amide bond disconnections provide flexibility and synthetic control. Herein we describe an electrochemical method to form the non-amide C–N bond from direct benzylic C(sp3)–H amidation. Our approach is applied toward the synthesis of secondary amides by coupling secondary benzylic substrates with substituted primary benzamides. The reaction has been scaled up to a multigram scale in flow.