Palladium-Catalyzed <i>peri</i>-Selective Chalcogenation of Naphthylamines with Diaryl Disulfides and Diselenides via C–H Bond Cleavage

A palladium-catalyzed and picolinamide-directed C–H thiolation of naphthylamine derivatives with diaryl disulfides has been developed to provide a convenient route to 8-sulfenyl-1-naphthylamines. The reaction proceeds via a 5-membered palladacycle intermediates to afford the peri-thiolated products exclusively, in contrast to the conventional ortho-functionalization. Moreover, the related direct selenation was also achieved with diaryl diselenides, giving the corresponding selenated products with perfect site-selectivity.