Electrocatalytic Formal C(sp 2 )-H Alkylations via Nickel-Catalyzed Cross-Electrophile Coupling with Versatile Arylsulfonium Salts.

Producing sp 3 -hybridized carbon-enriched molecules is of particular interest due to their high success rate in clinical trials. The installation of aliphatic chains onto aromatic scaffolds was accomplished by nickel-catalyzed C(sp 2 )-C(sp 3 ) cross-electrophile coupling with arylsulfonium salts. Thus, simple non-prefunctionalized arenes could be alkylated through the formation of aryldibenzothiophenium salts. The reaction employs an electrochemical approach to avoid potentially hazardous chemical redox agents, and importantly, the one-pot alkylation proved also viable, highlighting the robustness of our approach.