A Ni-Ir Dual Photocatalytic Liebeskind Coupling of Sulfonium Salts for the Synthesis of 2-Benzylpyrrolidines

Ni-catalyzed C-S bond construction and cleavage

Sulfur-containing compounds have attracted considerable interest due to their wide-ranging applications in pharmaceuticals, agriculture, natural products, and organic materials. The development of efficient and rapid methods for the construction and transformation of sulfur-containing compounds is of great importance. Since nickel is inexpensive and has a variety of valence states, strong nucleophilicity and low energy barriers for oxidative addition, the construction and transformation of sulfur-containing compounds by nickel-catalyzed cross-coupling have become important strategies. In addition, sulfur-containing compounds have also been playing increasingly important roles in the field of cross-coupling due to their thermodynamically stable but dynamic activity. This review will focus on nickel-catalyzed construction and transformation of various sulfide-containing compounds, such as sulfides, disulfides, and hypervalent sulfur-containing compounds.

Modular Synthesis of Carbazole-Substituted Phthalimides as Potential Photocatalysts

The modular synthesis of carbazole functionalized phthalimides (PIs) and their applicability as catalyst in selected photocatalytic transformations are reported. The developed synthetic approach provides high variability of phthalimide considering that the synthesis of the phthalimide core can be easily performed. Starting from fluorophthalic acid anhydrides, the corresponding fluorophthalimides were prepared with various amines, and the fluoro function ensured the introduction of carbazoles into the phthalimide framework through aromatic nucleophilic substitution. Besides the synthetic developments, some of the carbazolyl phthalimides were tested in four different photocatalytic transformations, which showed attractive and comparable activity to the known 4-CzIPN and noble metal complexes.

Alkylation Reactions with Alkylsulfonium Salts

The application of alkylsulfonium salts as alkyl-transfer reagents in organic synthesis has reemerged over the past few years. Numerous heteroatom- and carbon-centered nucleophiles, alkenes, arenes, alkynes, organometallic reagents, and others are readily alkylated by alkylsulfonium salts under mild conditions. The reactions feature convenience, high efficiency, readily accessible and structurally diversified alkylation reagents, good functional group tolerance, and a wide range of substrate types, allowing the facile synthesis of various useful organic molecules from commercially available building blocks. This review summarizes alkylation reactions using either isolated or in situ formed alkylsulfonium salts via nucleophilic substitution, transition-metal-catalyzed reactions, and photoredox processes.

1 Introduction

2 General Methods for the Synthesis of Alkylsulfonium Salts

3 Electrophilic Alkylation Using Alkylsulfonium Salts

4 Transition-Metal-Catalyzed Alkylation Using Alkylsulfonium Salts

5 Photoredox-Catalyzed Alkylation Using Alkylsulfonium Salts

6 Conclusion

Alkylsulfonium salts for the photochemical desulphurizative functionalization of heteroarenes

A metal-free organic photoredox-catalyzed alkylation of heteroarenes using alkylsulfonium salts as alkylation reagents has been developed.

Reactions of benzyltriphenylphosphonium salts under photoredox catalysis

The development of benzyltriphenylphosphonium salts as alkyl radical precursors using photoredox catalysis is described. Depending on substituents, the benzylic radicals may couple to form C-C bonds or abstract a hydrogen atom to form C-H bonds. A natural product, brittonin A, was also synthesized using this method.

Enabling the Use of Alkyl Thianthrenium Salts in Cross-Coupling Reactions by Copper Catalysis

Alkyl groups are one of the most widely used groups in organic synthesis. Here, a a series of thianthrenium salts have been synthesized that act as reliable alkylation reagents and readily engage in copper-catalyzed Sonogashira reactions to build C(sp³ )-C(sp) bonds under mild photochemical conditions. Diverse alkyl thianthrenium salts, including methyl and disubstituted thianthrenium salts, are employed with great functional breadth, since sensitive Cl, Br, and I atoms, which are poorly tolerated in conventional approaches, are compatible. The generality of the developed alkyl reagents has also been demonstrated in copper-catalyzed Kumada reactions.

Generation of non-stabilized alkyl radicals from thianthrenium salts for C-B and C-C bond formation

Sulfonium salts bearing a positively charged sulfur atom with three organic substituents have intrigued chemists for more than a century for their unusual structures and high chemical reactivity. These compounds are known to undergo facile single-electron reduction to emerge as a valuable and alternative source of aryl radicals for organic synthesis. However, the generation of non-stabilized alkyl radicals from sulfonium salts has been a challenge for several decades. Here we report the treatment of S-(alkyl) thianthrenium salts to generate non-stabilized alkyl radicals as key intermediates granting the controlled and selective outcome of the ensuing reactions under mild photoredox conditions. The value of these reagents has been demonstrated through the efficient construction of alkylboronates and other transformations, including heteroarylation, alkylation, alkenylation, and alkynylation. The developed method is practical, and provides the opportunity to convert C-OH bond to C-B and C-C bonds.

Synthesis of 6H-Benzo[c]chromene Scaffolds from O-Benzylated Phenols through a C-H Sulfenylation/Radical Cyclization Sequence

S-Aryl dibenzothiophenium salts, obtained through a highly regioselective C–H sulfenylation of o-benzyl-protected phenols, are used as precursors of 6H-benzo[c]chromenes. The reaction starts with a photocatalytically triggered single-electron transfer to the sulfonium salt, which promotes the formation of an aryl radical via selective mesolitic cleavage of the S–Ar_exo bond. Mechanistic studies reveal that this initial radical species cyclizes following a kinetically favored 5-exo-trig pathway. Subsequent ring expansion, favored by rearomatization, delivers the desired tricyclic systems.

Photocatalytic Palladium-Catalyzed Fluoroalkylation of Styrene Derivatives

A visible light induced palladium-catalyzed fluoroalkylation method was developed. The Heck-type alkyl coupling reaction enables the introduction of trifluoroethyl, difluoroethyl and other fluoroalkyl fragment into styrenes under mild reaction conditions without the use of additional photosensitizers and ensures access to fluoroalkylated olefins on a broad scale.

Acetonitrile-Hexane Extraction Route to Pure Sulfonium Salts

A rapid, simple procedure is described for synthesizing trialkyl, dialkylaryl, and alkyldiaryl sulfonium salts that features a selective extraction procedure to access analytically pure sulfonium salts. Alkylation of dialkylsulfides, alkylarylsulfides, and diarylsulfides followed by partitioning between acetonitrile and hexanes efficiently separates nonpolar reactants and byproducts, the usual impurities, to afford analytically pure crystalline and noncrystalline sulfonium salts. The method is efficient, general, and particularly well suited for the preparation of oily sulfonium salts that are otherwise extremely difficult to purify.

Transition-metal mediated carbon-sulfur bond activation and transformations: an update

Carbon-sulfur bond cross-coupling has become more and more attractive as an alternative protocol to establish carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom bonds. Diverse transformations through transition-metal-catalyzed C-S bond activation and cleavage have recently been developed. This review summarizes the advances in transition-metal-catalyzed cross-coupling via carbon-sulfur bond activation and cleavage since late 2012 as an update of the critical review on the same topic published in early 2013 (Chem. Soc. Rev., 2013, 42, 599-621), which is presented by the categories of organosulfur compounds, that is, thioesters, thioethers including heteroaryl, aryl, vinyl, alkyl, and alkynyl sulfides, ketene dithioacetals, sulfoxides including DMSO, sulfones, sulfonyl chlorides, sulfinates, thiocyanates, sulfonium salts, sulfonyl hydrazides, sulfonates, thiophene-based compounds, and C[double bond, length as m-dash]S functionality-bearing compounds such as thioureas, thioamides, and carbon disulfide, as well as the mechanistic insights. An overview of C-S bond cleavage reactions with stoichiometric transition-metal reagents is briefly given. Theoretical studies on the reactivity of carbon-sulfur bonds by DFT calculations are also discussed.