Aryl amination using ligand-free Ni(II) salts and photoredox catalysis

A light approach to C-N bond formation The need to form C-N bonds arises frequently in drug discovery research. One versatile approach involves the attachment of the C and N fragments to a Pd catalyst. This approach needs a bulky ligand to “crowd” the fragments together off the metal center. Corcoran et al. present a complementary approach that uses Ni in place of Pd. Instead of the bulky ligand, they used a light-activated cocatalyst that strips an electron from the Ni to accelerate the bond formation. A screen involving elaborately substituted reagents confirmed the utility of this approach in cases that challenge the traditional Pd coupling. Science , this issue p. 279