Photocatalysis in Aqueous Micellar Media Enables Divergent C–H Arylation and N-Dealkylation of Benzamides

Photocatalysis in aqueous micellar media has recently opened wide avenues to activate strong carbon–halide bonds. So far, however, it has mainly explored strongly reducing conditions, restricting the available chemical space to radical or anionic reactivity. Here, we demonstrate a controllable, photocatalytic strategy that channels the reaction of chlorinated benzamides via either a radical or a cationic pathway, enabling a chemodivergent C–H arylation or N-dealkylation. The catalytic system operates under mild conditions with methylene blue as a photocatalyst and blue LEDs as the light source. Factors determining the reactivity of substrates, their selectivity, and preliminary mechanistic studies are presented.