An environmentally-friendly one-pot synthesis of 4-sulfonyl benzoic acids

This Letter reports an environmentally-friendly one-pot SNAr reaction of thiols to 4-halobenzoic acid methyl esters to provide 4-substituted sulfone benzoic acids and picolinic acids after bleach-mediated oxidative workup. These acid intermediates were synthesized on gram scale, are perfect partners for library synthesis, and have good physical chemical properties useful for drug discovery.

This Letter reports the first environmentally-friendly one-pot SNAr reaction of thiols to 4-halobenzoic acid methyl esters to provide 4-substituted sulfone benzoic acids and picolinic acids after oxidative workup. These acid intermediates were performed on gram scale and are perfect partners for library synthesis and have good physical and chemical properties for drug discovery.