Synthesis of N-aryl derived formamides using triflic anhydride

Abstract

A facile and convenient one-pot protocol for the N-formylation of aryl amines has been furnished using Tf2O. This approach involves N-formylation of anilines and its derivatives employing formic acid as a formyl source and triflic anhydride (Tf2O) as an activator as the key step. This work highlights the ability of Tf2O as an activating agent, includes operational simplicity, easy applicability to gram-scale preparation and to afford the N-formyl aryl amines in moderate to good yields.