Palladium-catalyzed C-H bond functionalization with arylsulfonyl chlorides.

Selective C-H bond functionalization enables efficient access to valuable products from relatively simple precursors and thus remains a longstanding challenge in organic synthesis. This communication highlights the discovery of arylsulfonyl chlorides as readily available, inexpensive, and versatile reagents for C-H bond functionalization. A novel Pd-catalyzed synthesis of arylsulfones that features a rare C-H bond activation/functionalization to form a C-S bond is presented. By simple alterations of the reaction parameters, Pd-catalyzed C-Cl and C-C bond formation can also be achieved using arylsulfonyl chlorides as the oxidant.