Orthogonal Reactivity of Acyl Azides in C–H Activation: Dichotomy between C–C and C–N Amidations Based on Catalyst Systems

The dual reactivity of acyl azides was utilized successfully in C-H activation by the choice of catalyst systems: while selective C-C amidation was achieved under thermal Rh catalysis, a Ru catalyst was found to mediate direct C-N amidation also highly selectively. Investigations of the mechanistic dichotomy between two catalytic systems are also presented.