Low-Valent Tungsten-Catalyzed Controllable Oxidative Dehydrogenative Coupling of Anilines.

Herein, we have developed an efficient tungsten-catalyzed homogeneous system for oxidative dehydrogenative coupling of anilines to selectively produce various azoaromatics and azoxyaromatics as well as 2-substituted indolone N -oxides by simply regulating the reaction solvent with peroxide as a terminal oxidant under additive-free conditions. These findings provide an experimental framework for exploring tungsten catalysis in organic synthesis and offer an efficient and convenient tactic for the selective oxidation of anilines.