Copper‐catalyzed C(sp3)–H/N–H cross dehydrogenative coupling between toluene derivatives and picolinamides

An efficient C-N bond formation method through copper-catalyzed C(sp3)-H/N-H cross dehydrogenative coupling between toluene derivatives and picolinamides was developed. The N-H bond of picolinamides was activated by the direction of pyridyl group without influence of remote C-H bonds. The method was applicable to a broad range of substrates with good functional group compatibility, which provided a novel route to prepare N-benzyl tertiary amides from cheap and readily available starting materials.