Phenoselenazinimides and Their Tellurium-Accelerated Oxidative Amination of Phenols and Indoles

Phenothiazinimides have been known since 1978. Their heavy chalcogen analogues, however, phenoselenazinimides and phenotellurazinimides, have never been reported thus far. Our improved 2021 synthesis of their precursors, phenoselenazines and phenotellurazines, allowed us here to access phenoselenazinimides for the first time by simple treatment with chloramine T, while phenotellurazinimides remain elusive. Phenoselenazinimides could be further utilized as electrophilic amination coupling partners with phenols and indoles. Intriguingly, this process was found to be accelerated by a catalytic amount of phenotellurazine.