A general route to unsubstituted N-aryl and heteroarylaminobenzenesulfonamides

Starting from suitably protected 3- and 4-aminobenzenesulfonamides, a practical two-step strategy for the synthesis of unsubstituted N-aryl and heteroarylaminobenzenesulfonamides was devised. Strong bases are tolerated during the N-arylation step. Overall moderate to excellent yields are reported.