Hypervalent Iodine-Mediated Oxidative Rearrangement of N-H Ketimines: An Umpolung Approach to Amides.

An umpolung approach to amides via hypervalent iodine-mediated oxidative rearrangement of N-H ketimines under mild reaction conditions is described. This strategy provides target amides with excellent selectivity in good yields. In addition, preliminary mechanistic studies demonstrated that the migration preference depends on both steric and electronic effects of the migrating groups.