Electrochemical synthesis for α-arylation of ketones using enol acetates and aryl diazonium salts

Abstract

A new electrochemical method has been developed to achieve the α-arylation of ketones by reacting aryl diazonium salts with enol acetates. The broad scope of the reaction toward various diazonium salts and enol acetates was explored. In addition, we found that these electrochemical reactions could be performed using anilines as the starting material in a one-pot fashion. Furthermore, the practicality of this process was demonstrated in the multigram scale synthesis for α-arylation of ketones using highly inexpensive graphite as the electrode. The mechanism of the reaction was studied through experiments with free radical scavengers.