The abundance, structural diversity, and versatility
of ketones
give prominence to this carbonyl functional group in synthetic chemistry.
The assembly of ketones via the carbonylative hydroacylation of alkenes
represents a powerful modular strategy for the synthesis of unsymmetric
ketone products. Here, we report the photocatalytic carbonylative
hydroacylation of styrenes with unactivated alkyl halides. This protocol
unifies the visible-light multiphoton catalytic cycle of [Ir(ppy)2(dtb-bpy)]+ with flow chemistry to engage energy-demanding
alkyl bromides and iodides at moderate pressures of carbon monoxide.
The mild and practical methodology was employed to prepare a diverse
array of 44 unsymmetric dialkyl ketones from primary, secondary,
and tertiary unactivated alkyl halides. We demonstrate the application
of flow chemistry technology to achieve spatially resolved chemoselectivity
and broad functional group tolerance for the mild generation of functionalized
C(sp3)-rich ketone products.