Nickel-Photoredox-Catalyzed Stereoconvergent Coupling of Alkenyl Halides and Nitrogen-Containing Heterocycles

Org Lett. 2024 May 17;26(19):4049-4054. doi: 10.1021/acs.orglett.4c00707. Epub 2024 May 8.

Abstract

Nitrogen-containing heterocycles possessing N-alkenyl substituents are an important structural motif. However, the synthetic methods reported thus far cannot selectively synthesize the Z stereoisomer on the basis of the stereochemistry of the substituted alkenes. Herein, we report the stereoconvergent coupling of heterocycles and alkenyl halides consisting of a mixture of E/Z stereoisomers, which selectively afforded the thermodynamically less stable Z-coupling product. Mechanistic studies suggest that a nickel photoredox catalyst facilitates the formation of N-centered heteroarene radicals.