Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Direct utilization of dinitrogen (N2) in organic synthesis remains an unmet challenge in sustainable chemistry, particularly under mild conditions. Conventional transition-metal-mediated N2 functionalization typically requires elaborately designed catalysts under harsh conditions, limiting operational practicality. Here, we report a mechanochemical strategy that achieves rapid, lithium-mediated N2 reduction at ambient pressure and temperature in under two minutes, delivering polymorphic mixtures of α- and β-lithium nitride. The resulting metal nitride serves as a versatile platform for single nitrogen-atom transfer: applied to skeletal conversion reactions, it enables direct O-to-N transmutation of furans and aromatic oxonium salts into the corresponding pyrroles and pyridine derivatives, establishing a formal incorporation of N2 into N-heterocycles. The photophysical consequences of the single-atom edit on excited-state properties of the molecular chromophores were evaluated.
Source: ChemRxiv
Language: English
Subfield: Organic Chemistry
Field: Chemistry
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7221699528