Transient Directing Group Enabled Nickel-Catalyzed Satoh–Miura Annulation of Free Benzylamines with Alkynes

We report a nickel-catalyzed Satoh-Miura annulation of free benzylamines with alkynes, enabled by a transient directing group (TDG) strategy. The integration of the TDG approach with earth-abundant nickel catalysis provides a straightforward and efficient route for the synthesis of substituted 1-naphthylmethylamines, which exhibits excellent functional group tolerance. Compared with conventional directing group (DG)-directed precious-metal-catalyzed systems for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) synthesis, this protocol demonstrates advantages in atom- and step-economy, cost effectiveness, and sustainability.