Base‐Catalyzed Decarboxylative Amination of In‐Situ Generated Ortho‐Quinone Methides: Synthesis of Benzyl Amines

In this paper, a direct access to benzylic amines from in‐situ generated ortho‐quinone methides (o‐QMs) and isocyanate/isothiocyanate via decarboxylation is described. This base‐catalyzed methodology has high functional group tolerance and shows a wide range of substrate scopes, where H2O as a nucleophile for isocyanate/isothiocyanate for product formation. The products are insensitive to air and moisture, which makes this synthetic strategy more efficient for the construction of various benzyl amine derivatives. A straight forward synthesis of benzyl amines from in‐situ generated ortho‐quinone methides and isocyanates/isothiocyanates is presented through base‐catalyzed decarboxylative amination. Moreover, in the process, the products are converted into different fused heterocyclic systems.