Nickel-Catalyzed Double Dehydrogenative Coupling of Secondary Alcohols and β-Amino Alcohols To Access Substituted Pyrroles

Herein, we demonstrate the first nickel-catalyzed double dehydrogenative condensation of secondary alcohols and beta-amino alcohols in one pot to the pyrrole derivatives. A series of 2,5- and 2,3,5-substituted pyrroles were obtained in <= 83% yield, releasing water and hydrogen gas as byproducts. Initial mechanistic studies, including defined Ni catalyst, deuterium labeling experiments, quantitative determination of hydrogen gas evaluation, and detection of water generation in the reaction mixture, were performed.