Issue 3, 2017

Room temperature decarboxylative cyanation of carboxylic acids using photoredox catalysis and cyanobenziodoxolones: a divergent mechanism compared to alkynylation

Abstract

The one-step conversion of aliphatic carboxylic acids to the corresponding nitriles has been accomplished via the merger of visible light mediated photoredox and cyanobenziodoxolones (CBX) reagents. The reaction proceeded in high yields with natural and non-natural α-amino and α-oxy acids, affording a broad scope of nitriles with excellent tolerance of the substituents in the α position. The direct cyanation of dipeptides and drug precursors was also achieved. The mechanism of the decarboxylative cyanation was investigated both computationally and experimentally and compared with the previously developed alkynylation reaction. Alkynylation was found to favor direct radical addition, whereas further oxidation by CBX to a carbocation and cyanide addition appeared more favorable for cyanation. A concerted mechanism is proposed for the reaction of radicals with EBX reagents, in contrast to the usually assumed addition elimination process.

Graphical abstract: Room temperature decarboxylative cyanation of carboxylic acids using photoredox catalysis and cyanobenziodoxolones: a divergent mechanism compared to alkynylation

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
04 nov 2016
Accepted
13 dec 2016
First published
22 dec 2016
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Chem. Sci., 2017,8, 1790-1800

Room temperature decarboxylative cyanation of carboxylic acids using photoredox catalysis and cyanobenziodoxolones: a divergent mechanism compared to alkynylation

F. Le Vaillant, M. D. Wodrich and J. Waser, Chem. Sci., 2017, 8, 1790 DOI: 10.1039/C6SC04907A

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements