ABSTRACT In this study, an efficient modular synthetic method for dihydronaphthalene‐fused δ ‐sultones via organobases catalyzed regioselective Michael addition/SuFEx tandem reaction between β ‐tetralones and β ‐arylenesulfonyl fluorides was disclosed. In this transformation, all substrates could be performed under mild conditions to afford corresponding products in high to excellent yields. The control experiments showed that existence of benzylic hydrogen atoms benefiting to form conjugated enolate and ring strain are crucial in this tandem transformation. Preliminary DFT calculation more or less explained the regioselectivity of this reaction.
Wang et al. (Fri,) studied this question.