A visible-light-mediated cascade reaction of quinoxalin-2(1H)-ones, alkenes, and sulfinic acids

Abstract

A photocatalytic three-component cascade reaction of quinoxalin-2(1H)-ones, alkenes, and sulfinic acids under metal-, strong oxidant-, and external photocatalyst-free conditions was developed. The reaction was performed at room temperature using air as a green oxidant. Various sulfonated quinoxalin-2(1H)-ones were obtained in satisfactory yields with good functional group compatibility. The preliminary study showed that the current transformation was enabled by the formation of an electron donor–acceptor (EDA) complex between quinoxalin-2(1H)-ones and sulfinic acids.