One‐Pot Synthesis of p‐Amino‐Substituted Unsymmetrical Benzils and Benzil Derivatives

Abstract An efficient iodine/copper(II) oxide co‐promoted direct oxidative coupling of anilines and methyl aryl ketones has been developed for the synthesis of p ‐amino‐substituted unsymmetrical benzils and their iodo‐substituted derivatives. The chemoselectivity of the reactions can be easily controlled by adjusting the amount of iodine. This method exhibits good functional group tolerance for various substituents on the aromatic rings of the methyl aryl ketones. A possible mechanism for this reaction has been proposed based on control experiments. A couple of representative quinoxalines were synthesized from the benzil products in order to demonstrate the utility of this approach. magnified image