Electrochemical enabled desaturated β-C(sp3)-H sulfonylation and phosphonylation of cyclic amines

Herein, we reported an efficient and straightforward method to realize desaturated β-C(sp³)-H sulfonylation and phosphonylation of cyclic amines driven by electrochemistry using catalytic amounts of CP₂Fe as the redox mediator. This protocol which had good functional group compatibility, provided the desired enaminyl sulfone and enaminyl phosphine oxide products with high chemo- and regio-selectivity under mild conditions. Several mechanistic studies have suggested that cyclic amines underwent multiple single-electron oxidation and deprotonation processes, followed by a capture step involving either a sulfonyl radical or a phosphonyl radical, ultimately leading to the desired products.