Photocatalysis in Aqueous Micellar Media Enables Divergent C-H Arylation and N-Dealkylation of Benzamides

Abstract

Photocatalysis in aqueous micellar media has recently opened wide avenues to activate strong carbon-halide bonds. So far, however, it has mainly explored strongly reducing conditions, restricting the available chemical space to radical or anionic reactivity. Here, we demonstrate a controllable, photocatalytic strategy that channels the reaction of chlorinated benzamides via either a radical or a cationic pathway, enabling a chemodivergent C-H arylation or N-dealkylation. The catalytic system operates under mild conditions with methylene blue as a photocatalyst and blue LEDs as the light source. Factors determining the reactivity of substrates, their selectivity, and preliminary mechanistic studies are presented.