One-pot access to sulfonylated naphthalenediols/hydroquinones from naphthols/phenols with sodium sulfinates in an aqueous medium

A one-pot method towards sulfonylated hydroquinones/naphthalenediols in an aqueous medium has been developed with up to 97% yield. The whole reaction requiring no transition-metal catalysts could proceed smoothly with hypervalent iodine compounds as the oxidant. Both naphthols and phenols were viable with inexpensive and readily available sodium sulfinates as the sulfonylation reagents under an ambient atmosphere. This procedure is scalable, and the products could be easily obtained without column chromatography isolation.

Automated summary

A one-pot method for synthesizing sulfonylated hydroquinones/naphthalenediols in aqueous medium has been developed with up to 97% yield, without the need for transition-metal catalysts. The reaction can proceed smoothly at ambient temperature using inexpensive sodium sulfinates as the sulfonylation reagents. The scalable procedure allows for easy product isolation without column chromatography.