Copper-catalyzed decarboxylative C–N coupling for N-arylation

A novel approach for N-arylation utilizing aryl carboxylic acids as stable, inexpensive and widely available arylating reagents was developed. Employing a simple copper(II)–phenanthroline catalyst system, several benzoic acids bearing suitable ortho-substitutions undergo decarboxylative C–N cross-coupling effectively with various N-nucleophiles.