Ruthenium(ii)-catalyzed ortho-C-H arylation of diverse N-heterocycles with aryl silanes by exploiting solvent-controlled N-coordination.

We report the first method for the direct, regioselective Ru(ii)-catalyzed oxidative arylation of C-H bonds in diverse N-heterocycles with aryl silanes by exploiting solvent-controlled N-coordination. The reaction takes advantage of the attractive features of organosilanes as coupling partners, providing proof of concept for N-directed Ru(ii)-catalyzed C-H arylation. This novel, operationally-simple and versatile protocol utilizes the Ru(ii)/CuF2 reagent system in which CuF2 serves as a dual activator/oxidant in non-coordinating solvents to accommodate for ligand N-coordination. This first Ru(ii)-catalyzed N-directed Hiyama C-H arylation offers broad implications to achieve numerous C-H bond functionalizations by versatile ruthenium(ii) catalysis manifold.