Nucleophilic Substitutions of Alcohols in High Levels of Catalytic Efficiency

Abstract

A practical method for the nucleophilic substitution (S N) of alcohols furnishing alkyl chlorides, bromides, and iodides under stereochemical inversion in high catalytic efficacy is introduced. The fusion of diethylcyclopropenone as a simple Lewis base organocatalyst and benzoyl chloride as a reagent allows notable turnover numbers up to 100. Moreover, the use of plain acetyl chloride as a stoichiometric promotor in an invertive S N-type transformation is demonstrated for the first time. The operationally straightforward protocol exhibits high levels of stereoselectivity and scalability and tolerates a variety of functional groups.