RESUMEN
Although α-chiral C(sp3)-S bonds are of enormous importance in organic synthesis and related areas, the transition-metal-catalysed enantioselective C(sp3)-S bond construction still represents an underdeveloped domain probably due to the difficult heterolytic metal-sulfur bond cleavage and notorious catalyst-poisoning capability of sulfur nucleophiles. Here we demonstrate the use of chiral tridentate anionic ligands in combination with Cu(I) catalysts to enable a biomimetic enantioconvergent radical C(sp3)-S cross-coupling reaction of both racemic secondary and tertiary alkyl halides with highly transformable sulfur nucleophiles. This protocol not only exhibits a broad substrate scope with high enantioselectivity but also provides universal access to a range of useful α-chiral alkyl organosulfur compounds with different sulfur oxidation states, thus providing a complementary approach to known asymmetric C(sp3)-S bond formation methods. Mechanistic results support a biomimetic radical homolytic substitution pathway for the critical C(sp3)-S bond formation step.
RESUMEN
We describe a photoinduced copper-catalyzed asymmetric radical decarboxylative alkynylation of bench-stable N-hydroxyphthalimide(NHP)-type esters of racemic alkyl carboxylic acids with terminal alkynes, which provides a flexible platform for the construction of chiral C(sp3 )-C(sp) bonds. Critical to the success of this process are not only the use of the copper catalyst as a dual photo- and cross-coupling catalyst but also tuning of the NHP-type esters to inhibit the facile homodimerization of the alkyl radical and terminal alkyne, respectively. Owing to the use of stable and easily available NHP-type esters, the reaction features a broader substrate scope compared with reactions using the alkyl halide counterparts, covering (hetero)benzyl-, allyl-, and aminocarbonyl-substituted carboxylic acid derivatives, and (hetero)aryl and alkyl as well as silyl alkynes, thus providing a vital complementary approach to the previously reported method.