Photoinduced Synthesis of Thiocyanates through Hydrogen Atom Transfer and One-Pot Derivatization to Isothiocyanates

Photoinduced benzylic C-H thiocyanation is described. A series of alkyl thiocyanates were efficiently obtained by using Selectfluor as the oxidant. Moreover, we accomplished the one-pot isothiocyanation following the C-H thiocyanation. The thiocyanates and isothiocyanates were applied to the divergent transformation of pharmaceuticals.

Automated summary

This article describes a photoinduced benzylic C-H thiocyanation method. A series of alkyl thiocyanates were efficiently synthesized using Selectfluor as the oxidant, and one-pot isothiocyanation was achieved following the C-H thiocyanation. The resulting thiocyanates and isothiocyanates can be applied to the divergent transformation of pharmaceuticals.