Regioselective copper-catalyzed amination of bromobenzoic acids using aliphatic and aromatic amines.

A chemo- and regioselective copper-catalyzed cross-coupling procedure for amination of 2-bromobenzoic acids is described. The method eliminates the need for acid protection and produces N-aryl and N-alkyl anthranilic acid derivatives in up to 99% yield. N-(1-Pyrene)anthranilic acid has been employed in metal ion-selective fluorosensing.