Nature Inspires an Aerobic Coupling of Phenol and Amine

In this issue of Chem, Lumb and colleagues report on an effective and simple catalytic system of copper and diamine ligands for the bio-inspired and unified synthesis of 1,2-aminophenols through direct aerobic phenol-amine coupling. Using this method, they prepared a structurally diverse family of 1,2-aminophenols and their derived heterocycles, including immunosuppressive benzoxazoles and the indole alkaloid cephalandole A.