Bunte salt-mediated sulfonation of alkenes with sodium sulfinates

Abstract

Bunte salts are frequently utilized as effective thiolation reagents for constructing thioethers. In this study, we discovered that Bunte salts could also serve as mediators to enable the oxidative C–H sulfonation of alkenes with sodium sulfinates. Mechanistically, alkyl sulfides are generated as key intermediates, which undergo an unusual oxidative elimination to give the corresponding products. These tandem addition–elimination reactions allow for the conversion of various styrenes and α-alkyl styrenes into vinyl and allylic sulfones in useful to excellent yields.