Nitrogen-rich heterocyclic compounds have had a profound impact on human health, as these chemical motifs are found in a large number of drugs used to combat a broad range of diseases and pathophysiological conditions. Advances in transition metal-mediated cross-coupling have simplified the synthesis of such molecules; however, the development of practical and selective C–H functionalization methods that do not rely upon prefunctionalized starting materials is an underdeveloped area.1–9 Paradoxically, the innate properties of heterocycles that make them so desirable for biological applications render them challenging substrates for direct chemical functionalization, such as limited solubility, functional group incompatibilities, and reagent/catalyst deactivation. Herein we report that zinc sulfinate salts9 can be used to transfer alkyl radicals to heterocycles, allowing for a mild, direct and operationally simple formation of medicinally relevant C–C bonds while reacting in an orthogonal fashion to other innate C–H functionalization methods (Minisci, borono-Minisci, electrophilic aromatic substitution, transition metal-mediated C–H insertion, C–H deprotonation).2–7,9 A toolkit of these reagents was prepared and reacted across a wide range of heterocycles (natural products, drugs, building blocks) without recourse to protecting group chemistry, and can even be employed in a tandem fashion in a single pot in the presence of water and air.

Molecular scaffolds containing alkylfluorine substituents are desired in many areas of chemical research from materials to pharmaceuticals. Herein, we report the invention of a new reagent (Zn(SO2CF2H)2, DFMS) for the innate difluoromethylation of organic substrates via a radical process. This mild, operationally simple, chemoselective, and scalable difluoromethylation method is compatible with a range of nitrogen-containing heteroarene substrates of varying complexity as well as select classes of conjugated π-systems and thiols. Regiochemical comparisons suggest that the CF2H radical generated from the new reagent possesses nucleophilic character.

The modern constraints of drug discovery demand a rigorous validation process of all new reactions prior to widespread implementation. To this end, sulfinates (now marketed as Diversinates) have seen alacritous adoption by the medicinal chemistry community, as evidenced by the recent outpour of both patent and primary reports. Featuring more than 50 examples, this review seeks to highlight those particularly compelling cases published in the past 5 years, with an eye toward the identification of robust and predictable trends in reactivity.

SUMMARY The present protocol details the synthesis of zinc bis(alkanesulphinate)s that can be used as general reagents for the formation of radical species. The zinc sulphinates described herein have been generated from the corresponding sulphonyl chlorides by treatment with zinc dust. The products may be used crude, or a simple purification procedure may be performed to minimize incorporation of water and zinc chloride. Elemental analysis has been conducted in order to confirm the purity of the zinc sulphinate reagents; reactions with caffeine have also been carried out to verify the reactivity of each batch that has been synthesized. Although the synthesis of the zinc sulphinate salts generally proceeds within 3 h, workup can take up to 24 h and purification can take up to 3 h. Following the steps in this protocol would enable the user to generate a small toolkit of zinc sulphinate reagents over the course of one week.

Bis(difluoromethylsulfonyl)zinc (I), an air‐stable, free‐flowing powder, which exists as a polymer in the solid state, is an optimum partner for the difluoromethylation of a range of nitrogen‐containing heteroarene compounds, aromatic thiols, and conjugated π‐systems such as α,β‐unsaturated enones.