Triazoles have major roles in chemistry, medicine, and
materials
science, as centrally important heterocyclic motifs and bioisosteric
replacements for amides, carboxylic acids, and other carbonyl groups,
as well as some of the most widely used linkers in click chemistry.
Yet, the chemical space and molecular diversity of triazoles remains
limited by the accessibility of synthetically challenging organoazides,
thereby requiring preinstallation of the azide precursors and restricting
triazole applications. We report herein a photocatalytic, tricomponent
decarboxylative triazolation reaction that for the first time enables
direct conversion of carboxylic acids to triazoles in a single-step,
triple catalytic coupling with alkynes and a simple azide reagent.
Data-guided inquiry of the accessible chemical space of decarboxylative
triazolation indicates that the transformation can improve access
to the structural diversity and molecular complexity of triazoles.
Experimental studies demonstrate a broad scope of the synthetic method
that includes a variety of carboxylic acid, polymer, and peptide substrates.
When performed in the absence of alkynes, the reaction can also be
used to access organoazides, thereby obviating preactivation and specialized
azide reagents and providing a two-pronged approach to C–N
bond-forming decarboxylative functional group interconversions.