Table 1.

Iron-catalyzed aerobic oxidation of phenyl-substituted 4-benzylpyridines (1).^a

Entry	Substrate	R	Product	Yield (%)b
1	1a	H	2a	70
2	1b	NH2	2b	55
3	1c	SMe	2c	56
4	1d	OMe	2d	67
5	1e	Me	2e	79
6	1f	I	2f	77
7	1g	Br	2g	85
8	1h	Cl	2h	66
9	1i	F	2i	76
10	1j	CO2Et	2j	61
11	1k	CN	2k	79
12	1l	NO2	2l	60

^aReactions were performed on a 0.5 mmol scale in 1 mL of solvent using 1 atmosphere of O₂ (balloon). ^bIsolated yields.