Fe/S-catalyzed decarboxylative redox condensation of arylacetic acids with nitroarenes

Fe/S clusters generated in situ from simple iron salts and sulfur S-8 were found to be highly efficient to catalyze the decarboxylative redox condensation of arylacetic acids with nitroarenes in the presence of N-methylpiperidine as a basic additive. A wide range of aza-heterocycles was obtained in an atom-, step-, and redox-economical manner with water and carbon dioxide as the only by-products.