Sulfonyl fluorides have emerged as powerful tools in chemical biology for the selective labelling of proteins. A photocatalytic method is described for the conversion of aryl diazonium salts to aryl sulfonyl fluorides. The diazonium substrates are easily obtained in one step from functionalized anilines. We present the optimization of this mild method for the synthesis of sulfonyl fluorides, the scope of the transformation with a series of functionalized diazonium salts, and we discuss photophysical measurements that provide detailed information about the mechanism of the photochemical process.
Keywords: Diazonium salts; Electron transfer; Photocatalyst; Sulfonyl fluorides.