Divergent process for the catalytic decarboxylative thiocyanation and isothiocyanation of carboxylic acids promoted by visible light.

A divergent photoinduced selective synthesis of thiocyanate and isothiocyanate derivatives from readily available carboxylic acids was developed using N -thiocyanatosaccharin and a catalytic amount of base or acid. This molecular editing strategy allowed the functionalization of bioactive compounds. A mechanism for the transformation was proposed based on control experiments.