Nickel-catalyzed asymmetric reductive arylation of α-chlorosulfones with aryl halides

We report an asymmetric Ni-catalyzed reductive cross-coupling of aryl/heteroaryl halides with racemic α-chlorosulfones to afford enantioenriched sulfones. The reaction tolerates a variety of functional groups under mild reaction conditions, which complements the current methods. The utility of this work was demonstrated by facile late-stage functionalization of commercial drugs.

In this work Ni-Catalyzed reductive cross-coupling between (hetero)aryl halides and racemic α-chlorosulfones to prepare enantioenriched α,α-disubstituted sulfones was demonstrated, allowing facile structural derivatization of drug precursors.