SO_(2)-Insertion induced enantioselective oxysulfonylation to access β-chiral sulfones with quaternary carbon stereocenters

β-Chiral sulfones are structural motifs widely found in natural products and bioactive molecules, while also serving as important intermediates for the synthesis of valuable chiral scaffolds. In contrast to the rapid growth of sulfur dioxide insertion chemistry over the last decade, enantioselective catalytic variants for accessing β-chiral sulfones, especially those bearing a quaternary carbon stereocenter, remain rare. Herein, we report an enantioselective copper/bisoxazoline catalyzed oxysulfonylation of alkenes to yield isoxazolinyl-containing β-chiral sulfones bearing quaternary carbon stereocenters with moderate to excellent yields and up to 96:4 er. The advantage and irreplaceability of this sulfur dioxide insertion catalytic system have been demonstrated by achieving transformations clearly unavailable with the previously reported sulfonyl chloride system. Additionally,the recoverability of the new-developed bisoxazoline ligand L9 and its reusability without any erosion of the catalytic activity and enantioselectivity further demonstrate the usefulness of the protocol.

Photocatalytic Aerobic Oxysulfonylation of Alkynes to Access β-Keto Sulfones Catalyzed by OVs-N-Nb_(2)O_(5)

Herein,we report a novel heterogeneous photocatalyst for radical-mediated oxidative oxysulfonylation of alkynes toβ-keto sulfones under environmentally benign conditions.The oxygen vacancy-rich semiconductor Nb2O5(labeled as OVs-N-Nb_(2)O_(5))could efficiently catalyze a wide range of alkynes,especially for those bearing electron-deficient substituents or internal alkynes,to their correspondingβ-keto sulfones in good to high yields with good tolerance of diverse functional groups under visible-light illumination.The late-stage modification of steroidal compounds and synthesis of bioactive molecules were also achieved via this procedure,highlighting its potential for practical applications.Meanwhile,the photocatalyst OVs-N-Nb_(2)O_(5) showed outstanding catalytic stability for successive recycles without appreciable loss in activity and selectivity.The critical role of oxygen vacancies on improving reaction activity and selectivity was clearly disclosed via control experiments and theoretical calculation.