Orthogonal reactivity of acyl azides in C-H activation: Dichotomy between C-C and C-N amidations based on catalyst systems

The dual reactivity of acyl azides was utilized successfully in C-H activation by the choice of catalyst systems: while selective C-C amidation was achieved under thermal Rh catalysis, a Ru catalyst was found to mediate direct C-N amidation also highly selectively. Investigations of the mechanistic dichotomy between two catalytic systems are also presented.