Efficient and Sustainable Electrosynthesis of N-Sulfonyl Iminophosphoranes by the Dehydrogenative P–N Coupling Reaction

Iminophosphoranes are commonly used reagents in organic synthesis and are, therefore, of great interest. An efficient and sustainable iodide-mediated electrochemical synthesis of N-sulfonyl iminophosphoranes from readily available phosphines and sulfonamides is reported. This method features low amounts of supporting electrolytes, inexpensive electrode materials, a simple galvanostatic setup, and high conversion rates. The broad applicability could be demonstrated by synthesizing 20 examples in yields up to 90%, having diverse functional groups including chiral moieties and biologically relevant species. Furthermore, electrolysis was performed on a 20 g scale and could be run in repetitive mode by recycling the electrolyte, which illustrates the suitability for large-scale production. A reaction mechanism involving electrochemical mediation by the iodide-based supporting electrolyte is proposed, completely agreeing with all of the results.