Visible-light-driven modular construction of amides from aryldiazonium salts and isocyanides

Amide bonds are among the most important structural motifs in pharmaceuticals, natural products, and functional materials, prompting continuous efforts toward the development of efficient and sustainable synthetic methods. While visible-light-promoted amidation has emerged as a powerful strategy for amide synthesis, approaches that enable modular assembly of both the carbonyl and nitrogen residues of amides from common synthetic building blocks remain largely unexplored. Herein, we report a visible-light-promoted aerobic oxidative synthesis of amides through the coupling of aryldiazonium tetrafluoroborates and isocyanides. Both reaction partners are readily accessible from amine precursors, providing a modular platform for the construction of amides. Under mild photocatalytic conditions, a broad range of aromatic and aliphatic isocyanides as well as diverse aryldiazonium salts were successfully converted into the corresponding amides in good to excellent yields. The protocol exhibits broad substrate scope, high functional-group tolerance, scalability, and applicability to the late-stage functionalization of structurally complex molecules. Mechanistic studies suggest that the transformation proceeds through a photocatalytic radical pathway involving aryl radical generation and subsequent coupling with isocyanides. This strategy enables independent structural variation of both the carbonyl and nitrogen components of amides from a common class of amine-derived building blocks.