Selective C-O Coupling Reaction of N-Methoxy Arylamides and Arylboronic Acids Catalyzed by Copper Salt

Herein, we report a copper-catalyzed C-O cross-coupling of N-methoxy amides and arylboronic acids for the synthesis of aryl-N-methoxy arylimides. The fully selective O-arylation of the N-methoxy amides is found to be greatly prompted by the inexpensive and commercially available CuI. The reaction conditions tolerate a variety of functional groups and promote different reactivities depending on the electronic and steric properties of the distorted substrates.