Directing Group in Decarboxylative Cross-Coupling: Copper-Catalyzed Site-Selective C-N Bond Formation from Nonactivated Aliphatic Carboxylic Acids.

Copper-catalyzed directed decarboxylative amination of nonactivated aliphatic carboxylic acids is described. This intramolecular C-N bond formation reaction provides efficient access to the synthesis of pyrrolidine and piperidine derivatives as well as the modification of complex natural products. Moreover, this reaction presents excellent site-selectivity in the C-N bond formation step through the use of directing group. Our work can be considered as a big step toward controllable radical decarboxylative carbon-heteroatom cross-coupling.