Manganese-Catalyzed ortho-C-H Amidation of Weakly Coordinating Aromatic Ketones.

An efficient manganese-catalyzed ortho-C-H amidation of weakly coordinating aromatic ketones using the readily available sulfonyl azide as the amination reagent is developed. The key step is the ketone directed aromatic metalation using the in situ generated reactive Mn intermediate, MnMe(CO)5. This method offers excellent chemical yields, high regioselectivities, and good functional group tolerance.