Iron-catalyzed direct alkenylation of 2-substituted azaarenes with N-sulfonyl aldimines via C-H bond activation.

A novel iron-catalyzed alkenylation of 2-substituted azaarenes through sp(3) C-H bond activation has been developed. A favorable E2-elimination is proposed as a key step to cleavage of C-H and C-N bonds for the construction of a C═C bond in high stereoselectivity. This transformation represents an efficient way to synthesize 2-alkenylated azaarenes from simple starting materials.