Nickel-Catalyzed Thiolation of Aryl Halides and Heteroaryl Halides through Electrochemistry

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2019 Apr 1;58(15):5033-5037. doi: 10.1002/anie.201900956. Epub 2019 Mar 6.

Abstract

Transition-metal-catalyzed coupling reactions are useful tools for synthesizing aryl sulfur compounds. However, conventional transition-metal-catalyzed thiolation of aryl bromides and chlorides typically requires the use of strong base under elevated reaction temperature. Herein, we report the first examples of nickel-catalyzed electrochemical thiolation of aryl bromides and chlorides in the absence of an external base at room temperature using undivided electrochemical cells.

Keywords: electrocatalysis; electrosynthesis; nickel; thiolation; thiyl radicals.