Synthesis of γ-keto sulfones via sulfa-Michael reactions in Brønsted acidic deep eutectic solvent

Abstract

A facile sulfonylation of activated alkenes employing sodium arylsulfinates in Brønsted acidic deep eutectic solvent at room temperature has been developed. The choline chloride/p-toluenesulfonic acid deep eutectic solvent acts both the solvent and as the catalyst, affording the desired γ-keto sulfones in good yields. Easily accessible starting materials, good functional group compatibility as well as simple recovery of the solvent make this procedure environmentally benign.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Sulfa-Michael reaction
• γ-keto sulfones
• sodium arylsulfinates
• activated alkenes
• deep eutectic solvent

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Guoping Lu from the Nanjing University of Science and Technology for his work on synthetic route design and compound analysis.

Disclosure statement

The authors declared that they have no conflicts of interest to this work. We declare that we do not have any commercial or associative interest that represents a conflict of interest in connection with the work submitted.

Additional information

Funding

This project was financially supported by the “333” High-level Talent Project of Jiangsu Province, Changzhou Sci & Tech Program (CJ20220021).