A New, Practical One-Pot Synthesis of Unprotected Sulfonimidamides by Transfer of Electrophilic NH to Sulfinamides.

Unprotected tertiary sulfonimidamides have been prepared in good to excellent yields in a one-pot transformation from tertiary sulfinamides through NH transfer. The reaction is mediated by commercially available (diacetoxyiodo)benzene and ammonium carbamate in methanol under convenient conditions. A wide range of functional groups are tolerated and initial results indicate that the NH transfer is stereospecific. A small molecule X-ray analysis of NH sulfonimidamide 2 a and its behavior in selected in vitro assays in comparison to the matched sulfonamide are also reported. This new reaction provides a safe, short and efficient approach to sulfonimidamides, which have been the subject of recent, growing interest in the life sciences.