Iron‐Catalyzed CC Bond Cleavage and CN Bond Formation

A novel approach for CN bond formation was developed by iron‐catalyzed CC bond cleavage. Anilines and sulfonamides reacted smoothly with 2‐substituted 1,3‐diphenylpropane‐1,3‐diones to afford N ‐alkylation products, in which the 1,3‐dicarbonyl group acts as a leaving group in the presence of an iron catalyst. The reversible CC bond cleavage plays a driving force to give the thermodynamically stable products. The method is complementary to the previous methods for CN bond formation.