SuFEx-Enabled Direct Deoxy-Diversification of Alcohols

Org Lett. 2024 May 10;26(18):4013-4017. doi: 10.1021/acs.orglett.4c01016. Epub 2024 May 1.

Abstract

We introduce a new use of sulfonyl fluoride as a bifunctional reagent that facilitates the one-step deoxy-diversification of complex alcohol libraries. Our reaction design features a Sulfur(VI) Fluoride Exchange (SuFEx) mediated activation of alcohols and fluoride-induced activation of silicon-bound nucleophiles. This method enables the direct conversion of alcoholic C-O bonds in complex molecules into diverse analogues via C-C, C-N, C-Cl, and C-Br bond formation while suppressing any elimination side-products.