1.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl
; 58(38): 13499-13506, 2019 09 16.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-31301096
ABSTRACT
Oxygenation is a fundamental transformation in synthesis. Herein, we describe the selective late-stage oxygenation of sulfur-containing complex molecules with ground-state oxygen under ambient conditions. The high oxidation potential of the active uranyl cation (UO22+ ) enabled the efficient synthesis of sulfones. The ligand-to-metal charge transfer process (LMCT) from O 2p to U 5f within the O=U=O group, which generates a UV center and an oxygen radical, is assumed to be affected by the solvent and additives, and can be tuned to promote selective sulfoxidation. This tunable strategy enabled the batch synthesis of 32â pharmaceuticals and analogues by late-stage oxygenation in an atom- and step-efficient manner.