Decatungstate-Catalyzed Photochemical Reactions of Ethenesulfonyl Fluoride: A Linchpin Reagent for C-H Functionalization.

This work describes the use of ethenesulfonyl fluoride (ESF) as a powerful linchpin reagent in tetrabutylammonium decatungstate-catalyzed C-H bond functionalization reactions. As a potent Michael acceptor, ESF can react with radicals generated by hydrogen atom abstraction by the photocatalyst to produce a variety of sulfonyl fluoride compounds. These sulfonyl fluorides serve as versatile intermediates for the synthesis of sultones, sulfonamides, and sulfonates via inter- and intramolecular SuFEx reactions. In addition, this method includes a novel one-pot synthesis of β-functionalized ketones directly from aldehydes.