Electrooxidation-Induced Multicomponent Cascade Cyclization via Selective Cleavage of Tertiary Amine C–N Bond

A direct electrochemical oxidative cascade cyclization of 2-isocyanonaphthalenes with triethylamines, employing elemental selenium or sulfur, has been developed for the synthesis of 2-aminonaphthoselenazole and 2-aminonaphthothiazole derivatives. A diverse array of aliphatic and aromatic tertiary amines served as the amine source through a C-N bond selective cleavage pathway under metal catalyst-free and external chemical oxidant-free conditions.