A General Approach to Quaternary Center Construction from Couplings of Unactivated Alkenes and Acyl Xanthates.

A general, radical-mediated approach to quaternary center construction using unactivated alkenes as coupling partners is reported. In this strategy, acyl xanthates, readily accessed from carboxylic acids, serve as precursors to tertiary radicals. This strategy leverages the unique reactivity of xanthates to participate in efficient radical-mediated additions to unactivated alkenes, expanding the scope of quaternary center construction.