Visible light C–H amidation of heteroarenes with benzoyl azides† †Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Characterization and synthesis of new compounds, general procedures, proton and carbon NMR spectra, crystal structure analysis, gas chromatographic analyses. CCDC 1017661. For ESI and crystallographic data in CIF or other electronic format see DOI: 10.1039/c4sc02365j Click here for additional data file. Click here for additional data file.

Benzoyl azides were used for the direct and atom economic C–H amidation of electron rich heteroarenes in the presence of phosphoric acid, a photocatalyst and visible light. Hetero-aromatic amides are obtained in good yields at very mild reaction conditions with dinitrogen as the only by-product. The reaction allows the use of aryl-, heteroarylor alkenyl acyl azides and has a wide scope for heteroarenes, including pyrroles, indole, furan, benzofuran and thiophene giving good regio-selectivities and yields.