Sulfonyl azides have been widely
used as sulfonamido, diazo, and
azido donors, as well as all-nitrogen 1,3-dipoles donors in synthetic
chemistry. Here, the sulfonyl azides were used as efficient sulfonyl
donors, which is very unusual. Trifluoromethanesulfonic acid-induced
formation of the sulfonyl cation reactive species from sulfonyl azides
was developed and used for the first time to couple various inactivated
arenes to prepare sulfones at ambient temperature.