IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v16y2025i1d10.1038_s41467-025-61363-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Vinyl cyclopropanes as a unifying platform for enantioselective remote difunctionalization of alkenes

Author

Listed:
  • Xiaoyong Du

    (University of Zurich)

  • Marc E. Lennon

    (University of Zurich)

  • Georgia Kriticou

    (University of Zurich)

  • Cristina Nevado

    (University of Zurich)

Abstract

Asymmetric remote difunctionalization of alkenes is a longstanding challenge in synthetic chemistry, offering the potential to install two functional groups simultaneously across distal carbon atoms in a stereocontrolled manner. While ingenious strategies have been devised to achieve this transformation, a general catalytic system for remote, enantioselective hetero-carbofunctionalization and dicarbofunctionalization of alkenes has remained elusive. Here, we present a nickel/photoredox dual-catalyzed asymmetric remote 1,5-carbosulfonylation and 1,5-dicarbofunctionalization of vinyl cyclopropanes. This cascade reaction integrates radical addition, C–C bond cleavage, and cross-coupling to functionalize two distal carbon atoms with high enantioselectivity. Our protocol demonstrates broad substrate scope, excellent functional group tolerance, and significant synthetic utility, as evidenced by late-stage functionalization and product derivatization. Our mechanistic investigations support the involvement of a Ni(0)/Ni(I)/Ni(III) catalytic cycle in our system. This work establishes a versatile platform for remote alkene difunctionalization, expanding the toolbox of enantioselective synthetic methods and unlocking new avenues for complex molecule construction.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiaoyong Du & Marc E. Lennon & Georgia Kriticou & Cristina Nevado, 2025. "Vinyl cyclopropanes as a unifying platform for enantioselective remote difunctionalization of alkenes," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-10, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-61363-3
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-61363-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-61363-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-025-61363-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John C. K. Chu & Tomislav Rovis, 2016. "Amide-directed photoredox-catalysed C–C bond formation at unactivated sp3 C–H bonds," Nature, Nature, vol. 539(7628), pages 272-275, November.
    2. Marvin Mendel & Teresa M. Karl & Jegor Hamm & Sherif J. Kaldas & Theresa Sperger & Bhaskar Mondal & Franziska Schoenebeck, 2024. "Dynamic stereomutation of vinylcyclopropanes with metalloradicals," Nature, Nature, vol. 631(8019), pages 80-86, July.
    3. Bogdan R. Brutiu & Giulia Iannelli & Margaux Riomet & Daniel Kaiser & Nuno Maulide, 2024. "Stereodivergent 1,3-difunctionalization of alkenes by charge relocation," Nature, Nature, vol. 626(7997), pages 92-97, February.
    4. Pengcheng Qian & Haixing Guan & Yan-En Wang & Qianqian Lu & Fan Zhang & Dan Xiong & Patrick J. Walsh & Jianyou Mao, 2021. "Catalytic enantioselective reductive domino alkyl arylation of acrylates via nickel/photoredox catalysis," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-9, December.
    5. Gilbert J. Choi & Qilei Zhu & David C. Miller & Carol J. Gu & Robert R. Knowles, 2016. "Catalytic alkylation of remote C–H bonds enabled by proton-coupled electron transfer," Nature, Nature, vol. 539(7628), pages 268-271, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nian Li & Jinhang Li & Mingzhe Qin & Jiajun Li & Jie Han & Chengjian Zhu & Weipeng Li & Jin Xie, 2022. "Highly selective single and multiple deuteration of unactivated C(sp3)-H bonds," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.
    2. Yuxi Gao & Lijuan Gao & Endiao Zhu & Yunhong Yang & Mi Jie & Jiaqian Zhang & Zhiqiang Pan & Chengfeng Xia, 2023. "Nickel/photoredox dual catalyzed arylalkylation of nonactivated alkenes," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    3. Long Zou & Xinyue Zheng & XueZheng Yi & Qingquan Lu, 2024. "Asymmetric paired oxidative and reductive catalysis enables enantioselective alkylarylation of olefins with C(sp3)−H bonds," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.
    4. Qianqian Chang & Qini Li & Yi-Hui Deng & Tian-Yu Sun & Yun-Dong Wu & Leifeng Wang, 2025. "Nickel catalyzed C-N coupling of haloarenes with B2N4 reagents," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-11, December.
    5. Si-Yuan Tang & Zhan-Jie Wang & Yu Ao & Ning Wang & Huan-Ming Huang, 2025. "Photoredox/Cr-catalyzed enantioselective radical-polar crossover transformation via C-H functionalization," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-9, December.
    6. Qiang Wei & Yuhsuan Lee & Weiqiu Liang & Xiaolei Chen & Bo-shuai Mu & Xi-Yang Cui & Wangsuo Wu & Shuming Bai & Zhibo Liu, 2022. "Photocatalytic direct borylation of carboxylic acids," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    7. Chaodong Wang & Zhi Chen & Jie Sun & Luwei Tong & Wenjian Wang & Shengjie Song & Jianjun Li, 2024. "Sulfonamide-directed site-selective functionalization of unactivated C(sp3)−H enabled by photocatalytic sequential electron/proton transfer," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    8. Luyang Li & Tongyan Yu & Kemeng Du & Pan Xu, 2025. "Cyano group translocation to alkenyl C(sp2)–H site by radical cation catalysis," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-9, December.
    9. Qian Zhang & Yulong Wang & Cameron Nickle & Ziyu Zhang & Andrea Leoncini & Dong-Chen Qi & Kai Sotthewes & Alessandro Borrini & Harold J. W. Zandvliet & Enrique Barco & Damien Thompson & Christian A. N, 2024. "Molecular switching by proton-coupled electron transport drives giant negative differential resistance," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-61363-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.