Transition metal-free photodecarboxylative amination of redox-active esters with diazirines

Due to the prevalence of nitrogen-containing compounds in medicine, materials, and related fields, the search for general, mild methods for electrophilic amination remains an area of intense research. Diazirines have been recently demonstrated to serve as electrophilic amination reagents that afford diaziridines, versatile heterocycles that are readily transformed into amines, hydrazines, and a variety of nitrogen-containing heterocycles. Here we report the phosphine-mediated, photodecarboxylative amination of redox-active esters with diazirines. This method is transition metal-free, uses inexpensive photoactivators under mild conditions, and offers a significantly enhanced scope and yields for primary redox-active esters. Furthermore, the stability of diazirines to blue light (456 nm) is demonstrated, paving the way for further research into other photochemical amination methods with these unique heterocycles.