The functionalization of aryl and heteroaryls using α-carbonyl sulfoxonium ylides without the help of a directing group has remained so far a neglected area, despite the advantageous safety profile of sulfoxonium ylides. Described herein are the cyclizations of α-carbonyl sulfoxonium ylides onto benzenes, benzofurans and N-p-toluenesulfonyl indoles in the presence of a base in HFIP, whereas pyrroles and N-methyl indoles undergo cyclization in the presence of an iridium catalyst. Significantly, these two sets of conditions are chemospecific for each groups of substrates.
Keywords: chemospecifity; cyclization; hexafluoroisopropanol; iridium; sulfoxonium.
© 2019 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.