Anilines are fundamental motifs in various chemical contexts, and are widely used in the industrial production of fine chemicals, polymers, agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals. A recent development for the synthesis of anilines uses the primary amination of C–H bonds in electron-rich arenes. However, there are limitations to this strategy: the amination of electron-deficient arenes remains a challenging task and the amination of electron-rich arenes has a limited control over regioselectivity—the formation of meta-aminated products is especially difficult. Here we report a site-directed C–C bond primary amination of simple and readily available alkylarenes or benzyl alcohols for the direct and efficient preparation of anilines. This chemistry involves a novel C–C bond transformation and offers a versatile protocol for the synthesis of substituted anilines. The use of O₂ as an environmentally benign oxidant is demonstrated, and studies on model compounds suggest that this method may also be used for the depolymerization of lignin.