Palladium-catalyzed sp(3) CH activation of simple alkyl groups: direct preparation of indoline derivatives from N-alkyl-2-bromoanilines.

The sp3 C-H activation of a simple alkyl group catalyzed by palladium(0) provides a novel and convenient strategy for the synthesis of various indolines from simple precursors, such as N-alkyl-2-bromoanilines. This study demonstrates that assisting moieties in the substrate such as a pyridine or quaternary carbon are not always necessary for sp3 C-H activation.