Convenient homogeneous and heterogeneous acid catalysed electrophilic amidoalkylation of arenes

The chemoselective electrophilic substitution of electron rich arenes with N-(acyl)benzaldimines to benzhydrylamides proceeds smoothly under mild conditions (room temperature) in the presence of catalytic amounts of both homogeneous (binaphthol-phosphoric acid) and heterogeneous (Amberlyst-36) catalysts. The investigations revealed influences of the catalyst type on the reaction and the product spectrum.