Vanadium-Catalyzed Oxidative C(CO)–C(CO) Bond Cleavage for C–N Bond Formation: One-Pot Domino Transformation of 1,2-Diketones and Amidines into Imides and Amides

A novel vanadium-catalyzed one-pot domino reaction of 1,2-diketones with amidines has been identified that enables their transformation into imides and amides. The reaction proceeds by dual acylation of amidines via oxidative C(CO)-C(CO) bond cleavage of 1,2-diketones to afford N,N'-diaroyl-N-arylbenzamidine intermediates. In the reaction, these intermediates are easily hydrolyzed into imides and amides through vanadium catalysis. This method provides a practical, simple, and mild synthetic approach to access a variety of imides as well as amides in high yields. Moreover, one-step construction of imide and amide bonds with a long-chain alkyl group is an attractive feature of this protocol.