Visible-light induced three component radical cascade 1,2-dialkylation of alkenes to access alcohols

Abstract

Visible-light mediated 1,2- dicarbofunctionalization of alkenes provided a powerful tool for the synthesis of structurally complicated and diverse molecules from simple precursors in one step. In this paper, a photo-catalyzed three-component 1,2-alkylation of alkenes with alkylboronic pinacol esters (APEs) and aldehydes have been accomplished. This transition-metal-free protocol provided a clean and efficient manner to access secondary alcohols with wide substrate scope compatibility and good functional group tolerance, and allowed a variety of alkenes, APEs and aldehydes to be transformed to the desired products in moderate to good yields under metal free conditions. Mechanism studies disclosed that this transformation may be involved a radical addition and radical-radical cross coupling process.