Highly Efficient Binuclear Copper‐catalyzed Oxidation of N,N ‐Dimethylanilines with O 2

A binuclear copper‐salicylate complex, [Cu(Sal) 2 (NCMe)] 2 (Sal=salicylate), was found to be an active catalyst for the oxidation of N,N ‐dimethylanilines by O 2 , affording the corresponding N ‐methyl‐ N ‐phenylformamides as major products. The reactions were carried out with a O 2 balloon and the S/C (substrate/catalyst ratio) of the model reaction could be up to 1×10 5 , providing a practical and highly efficient catalytic protocol for accessing N ‐methyl‐ N ‐phenylformamides.