Discriminating non-ylidic carbon-sulfur bond cleavages of sulfonium ylides for alkylation and arylation reactions

A sulfonium ylide participated alkylation and arylation under transition-metal free conditions is described. The disparate reaction pattern allowed the separate activation of non-ylidic S-alkyl and S-aryl bond. Under acidic conditions, sulfonium ylides serve as alkyl cation precursors which facilitate the alkylations. While under alkaline conditions, cleavage of non-ylidic S-aryl bond produces O-arylated compounds efficiently. The robustness of the protocols were established by the excellent compatibility of wide variety of substrates including carbohydrates.