Research news, Dec. 26th, 2014

 Oxidant-Switchable Selective Synthesis of 2-Aminobenzimidazoles via C–H Amination/Acetoxylation of Guanidines

Yue Chi, Wen-Xiong Zhang,* and Zhenfeng Xi
Org. Lett. 2014, 16, 6274-6277. 
 
 
The iodine(III) compound-promoted C–H amination and tandem C–H amination/acetoxylation of guanidines are achieved for the first time to provide efficiently 2-aminobenzimidazoles and acetoxyl-substituted 2-aminobenzimidazoles, respectively. The amount and type of iodine(III) compounds control the selective syntheses of two types of 2-aminobenzimidazoles. This reaction shows good regioselectivity when unsymmetrical substrates are used.