Sulfate radical anion-induced benzylic oxidation of N-(arylsulfonyl)benzylamines to N-arylsulfonylimines

A mild, operationally convenient, and practical method for the synthesis of synthetically useful N-arylsulfonylimines from N-(arylsulfonyl)benzylamines using K(2)S(2)O(8) in the presence of pyridine as a base is reported herein. In addition, a “one-pot” tandem synthesis of pharmaceutically relevant N-heterocycles by the reaction of N-arylsulfonylimines, generated in situ with ortho-substituted anilines is also reported. The key features of the protocol include the use of a green oxidant, a short reaction time (30 min), chromatography-free isolation, scalability, and economical, delivering N-arylsulfonylimines in excellent yields of up to 96%. While the oxidation of N-aryl(benzyl)amines to N-arylimines using K(2)S(2)O(8) is reported to be problematic, the oxidation of N-(arylsulfonyl)benzylamines to N-arylsulfonylimines using K(2)S(2)O(8) has been achieved for the first time. The dual role of the sulfate radical anion (SO(4)(·−)), including hydrogen atom abstraction (HAT) and single electron transfer (SET), is proposed to be involved in the plausible reaction mechanism.