Acylsilanes in Iridium-Catalyzed Directed Amidation Reactions and Formation of Heterocycles via Siloxycarbenes.

Exposing ortho-amido aroylsilanes to visible light or heat leads to cyclization reactions that provide N-heterocyclic compounds via siloxycarbenes as key intermediates. The previously unreported starting materials have been prepared by directed amidations of aromatic acylsilanes in the presence of an iridium catalyst followed by N-alkylation.