Polycyclic Azetidines and Pyrrolidines via Palladium-Catalyzed Intramolecular Amination of Unactivated C(sp3)–H Bonds

A novel strategy to construct complex polycyclic nitrogen-containing heterocycles from aliphatic amines via picolinamide-assisted palladium-catalyzed C–H bond activation reaction was reported. The reaction exhibits broad substrate scope for the synthesis of various azabicyclic scaffolds, including azetidines and tropane-class alkaloids. Application of this method to naturally occurring (−)-cis-myrtanylamine, an unprecedented type of carbon–carbon bond activation, in which the electron-pair involved initiates an intramolecular “SN2-like” displacement of a cyclopalladium-fragment from a tertiary center, is described.