Visible-light mediated carbonyl trifluoromethylative amination as a practical method for the synthesis of β-trifluoromethyl tertiary alkylamines.

We report the development of an operationally straigtforward, visible-light-mediated multicomponent strategy for the construction of β-trifluoromethylated tertiary alkylamines from feedstock aldehydes, secondary amines and a convenient source of trifluoromethyl iodide. The new process does not require a photocatalyst, is metal-free, displays a broad functional group tolerance and offers rapid, one-pot access to trifluoromethylated drug-like compounds that will be of interest in medicinal chemistry.