An Atom-Economic Method for 1,2,3-Triazole Derivatives via Oxidative [3 + 2] Cycloaddition Harnessing the Power of Electrochemical Oxidation and Click Chemistry

J Org Chem. 2023 Nov 17;88(22):15772-15782. doi: 10.1021/acs.joc.3c01836. Epub 2023 Nov 4.

Abstract

An electrochemical method was developed to accomplish the reagentless synthesis of 4,5-disubstituted triazole derivatives employing secondary propargyl alcohol as C-3 synthon and sodium azide as cycloaddition counterpart. The reaction was conducted at room temperature in an undivided cell with a constant current using a pencil graphite (C) anode and stainless-steel cathode in a MeCN solvent system. The proposed reaction mechanism was convincingly established by carrying out a series of control experiments and further supported by electrochemical and density functional theory (DFT) studies.