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.