Skeletal
rearrangement that changes the connectivity of the molecule
via cleavage and reorganization of carbon–carbon bonds is a
fundamental and powerful strategy in complex molecular assembly. Because
of the lack of effective methods to control the migratory tendency
of different groups, achieving switchable selectivity in skeletal
rearrangement has been a long-standing quest. Metal-based dyotropic
rearrangement provides a unique opportunity to address this challenge.
However, switchable dyotropic rearrangement remains unexplored. Herein,
we show that such a problem could be solved by modifying the ligands
on the metal catalyst and changing the oxidation states of the metal
to control the migratory aptitude of different groups, thereby providing
a ligand-controlled, switchable skeletal rearrangement strategy. Experimental
and density functional theory calculation studies prove this rational
design. The rearrangement occurs only when the nickel(II) intermediate
is reduced to a more nucleophilic nickel(I) species, and the sterically
hindered iPrPDI ligand facilitates 1,2-aryl/Ni dyotropic
rearrangement, while the terpyridine ligand promotes 1,2-acyl/Ni dyotropic
rearrangement. This method allows site-selective activation and reorganization
of C–C bonds and has been applied for the divergent synthesis
of four medicinally relevant fluorine-containing scaffolds from the
same starting material.