Ruthenium-catalyzed meta/ortho-selective C-H alkylation of azoarenes using alkyl bromides.

meta/ortho-Selective CAr-H (di)alkylation reactions of azoarenes have been achieved via [Ru(p-cymene)Cl2]2 catalyzed ortho-metalation using various types of alkyl bromides. Particularly, dual meta-alkylation of azoarene and reduction offer an attractive strategy for the synthesis of meta-alkylanilines, which are difficult to access via traditional aniline functionalization methods.