Cu-Electrocatalytic Diazidation of Alkenes at ppm Catalyst Loading

J Am Chem Soc. 2022 Jul 13;144(27):11980-11985. doi: 10.1021/jacs.2c05126. Epub 2022 Jun 30.

Abstract

The 1,2-diamine motif is prevalent in natural products, small-molecule pharmaceuticals, and catalysts for asymmetric synthesis. Transition metal catalyzed alkene diazidation has evolved to be an attractive strategy to access vicinal primary diamines but remains challenging, especially for practical applications, due to the restriction to a certain type of olefins, the frequent use of chemical oxidants, and the requirement for high loadings of metal catalysts (1 mol % or above). Herein we report a scalable Cu-electrocatalytic alkene diazidation reaction with 0.02 mol % (200 ppm) of copper(II) acetylacetonate as the precatalyst without exogenous ligands. In addition to its use of low catalyst loading, the electrocatalytic method is scalable, compatible with a broad range of functional groups, and applicable to the diazidation of α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds and mono-, di-, tri-, and tetrasubstituted unactivated alkenes.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Alkenes* / chemistry
  • Catalysis
  • Copper / chemistry
  • Diamines* / chemistry
  • Ligands

Substances

  • Alkenes
  • Diamines
  • Ligands
  • Copper