An efficient one-pot protocol is devised to access a wide range of sulfenamide derivatives through the copper-catalyzed coupling of sulfonyl azides with thioamides. The reaction proceeds via a copper-nitrenoid intermediate derived from sulfonyl azides, enabling chemo- and regioselective construction of the S-N bond through the extrusion of nitrogen as the sole byproduct. Notably, the protocol exhibits broad functional group tolerance and scalability. Scale-up reactions and mechanistic studies further underscore the operational simplicity, mild nature, and synthetic utility of this transformation.
Singh et al. (Wed,) studied this question.