Formal Aniline Synthesis from Phenols through Deoxygenative N‐Centered Radical Substitution

Phenolic, lignin‐derived substrates have emerged as desirable biorenewable chemical feedstocks for coupling reactions. A radical‐mediated conversion of phenol derivatives to anilines is reported, using unfunctionalized hydroxamic acids as the N‐centered radical source. The applicability of this triethyl phosphite mediated O‐atom transfer approach, which tolerates a range of steric and electronic demands to naturally occurring phenols and lignin models, has been demonstrated in this work to access the corresponding aniline derivatives.