Photoinduced sulfonylation of cyclic ethers

A one-step preparation of α-sulfonylated cyclic ethers has been achieved via the intermolecular sulfonylation of ethereal CH bonds. In this process, the chemoselective cleavage of the ethereal CH bond was achieved by hydrogen abstraction with photo-excited benzophenone, and the sulfonyl unit was provided by sulfonyl chloride. This protocol allows a direct transformation of ethereal C(sp3)H bonds to C(sp3)SO2R bonds under photo-irradiation conditions at room temperature.