Av isible-light-promoted photochemical protocol is reported for the coupling of aryldiazoacetates with boronic acids. This photochemical reactions hows great enhancement comparedt ot he same protocolp erformed in the absence of light. Except for af ew cases, the room temperature coupling in the dark (thermalp rocess) generally does not work. When it does, it is likely to also involve free carbenes as key intermediates. Alternatively,p hotochemical reactions show ab road scope,c an be performed under air and tolerate aw ide variety of functional groups.R eaction-evolution monitoring, DFT calculations and control experimentsh ave been used to evaluatet he main aspects of this intricate mechanistic scenario. Biologically activem olecules Adiphenine, Benactyzine and Aprophen have been prepared as examples of synthetic applications.
Results and DiscussionAt the outset, we started our investigation employing aryldiazoacetate 1a and phenylboronic acid 2a,a iming at the preparationo fa,a-diphenyl ester 3a.I nitial screening of reaction Figure 1. Examples of biologically active a-branchede sters.