Switching from 2-pyridination to difluoromethylation:ligand-enabled nickel-catalyzed reductive difluoromethylation of aryl iodides with difluoromethyl 2-pyridyl sulfone

The divergent reductive cross-coupling with an ambident electrophile is rare.Previously,we demonstrated a nickel-catalyzed reductive 2-pyridination of aryl iodides with difluoromethyl 2-pyridyl sulfone(2-Py SO_(2)CF_(2)H)via selective C(sp^(2))-S bond cleavage of the sulfone by using a phosphine ligand.In this communication,we report a novel nickel-catalyzed reductive coupling of aryl iodides and 2-Py SO_(2)CF_(2)H reagent,which constitutes a new method for aromatic difluoromethylation.The use of a tridentate terpyridine ligand is pivotal for the selective C(sp^(3))-S bond cleavage of the sulfone.This method employs readily available nickel catalyst and 2-Py SO_(2)CF_(2)H as the difluoromethylation reagent,providing a facile access to difluoromethylarenes under mild reaction conditions without pre-generation of arylmetal reagents.