Electrochemical site-selective direct C–H sulfenylation and selenylation of a chromone-fused-indolizine (CFI) skeleton

Abstract

Herein, for the first time, we report the transition metal-free electrochemical site-selective direct C–H sulfenylation/selenylation of chromone-fused indolizine compounds (CFIs) to afford the corresponding CFIs thioethers and selenoethers   in 58–96% yields. The developed protocol offers a transition metal-free, ligand-free, catalyst-free methodology and is suitable for a variety of chalcogenide molecules (S and Se) along with various electron-rich and electron-poor chromone-fused indolizine compounds. Cyclic voltammograms and control experiments also validated the plausible reaction pathway.