Electrochemical oxidative CH sulfonylation of thiophenes: Site-selective access to 2-arylsulfonylthiophenes

2-Arylsulfonylthiophenes represent a class of important biologically active compounds. Although methods for synthesizing C2-functionalized thiophenes have been extensively reported, research on the synthesis of 2-arylsulfonylthiophenes is extremely rare. Herein, we report a method for 2-arylsulfonylthiophenes via exogenous-oxidant-free electrochemical oxidative CH sulfonylation of thiophenes, which efficiently avoid the issues of desulfonylation or over-reduction of sulfonyl groups. These reactions exhibit broad substrate scope (32 examples) and offer operationally simple, low-cost procedures in a single step.