Volume 135, Issue 7 e202215779
Zuschrift

Ligand-Controlled Nickel-Catalyzed Regiodivergent Cross-Electrophile Alkyl-Alkyl Couplings of Alkyl Halides

Dr. Wen-Tao Zhao

Dr. Wen-Tao Zhao

Shenzhen Grubbs Institute and Department of Chemistry, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, 518055, Guangdong P. R. China

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Huan Meng

Huan Meng

Shenzhen Grubbs Institute and Department of Chemistry, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, 518055, Guangdong P. R. China

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Jia-Ni Lin

Jia-Ni Lin

Shenzhen Grubbs Institute and Department of Chemistry, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, 518055, Guangdong P. R. China

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Prof. Dr. Wei Shu

Corresponding Author

Prof. Dr. Wei Shu

Shenzhen Grubbs Institute and Department of Chemistry, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, 518055, Guangdong P. R. China

State Key Laboratory of Elemento-Organic Chemistry, Nankai University, 300071 Tianjin, P. R. China

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In memory of Professor Robert H. Grubbs
First published: 14 December 2022

Abstract

Functionalizing specific positions on a saturated alkyl molecule is a key challenge in synthetic chemistry. Herein, a ligand-controlled regiodivergent alkylations of alkyl bromides at different positions by Ni-catalyzed alkyl-alkyl cross-electrophile coupling with the second alkyl bromides has been developed. The reaction undergoes site-selective isomerization on one alkyl bromides in a controlled manner, providing switchable access to diverse alkylated structures at different sites of alkyl bromides. The reaction occurs at three similar positions with excellent chemo- and regioselectivity, representing a remarkable ligand tuned reactivity between alkyl-alkyl cross-coupling and nickel migration along the hydrocarbon side chain. This reaction offers a catalytic platform to diverse saturated architectures by alkyl-alkyl bond-formation from identical starting materials.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available in the Supporting Information of this article.

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