Thiocyanate: a visible-light-driven traceless auxiliary for stereoselective cyclopropyl ketone construction

Abstract

An operationally simple method for the diastereoselective construction of cyclopropyl ketones from alkenes is described in this study. The pseudohalide –SCN is used as a traceless auxiliary to address the elimination problem posed by halide intermediates, leading to the successful incorporation of single-electron-withdrawing-group–substituted radical progenitors in the cyclopropanation manifold.