Metal-free, visible-light-driven multicomponent reactions of glycine derivatives with styrene and disulfide ether

Abstract

α-Amino acids and their derivatives are prevalent structural motifs with universal applications in drug discovery. Herein, we report metal free, visible-light-driven multicomponent reactions of glycine derivatives with styrene and disulfide ether. This protocol features mild and green conditions, appreciable functional group tolerance, and broad substrate scope, thus providing a sustainable and practical strategy to access synthetically valuable chalcogenated α-amino acid derivatives and peptide derivatives. Mechanistic investigations showed that an imine might be the key intermediate of this transformation.