Facile synthesis of vinyl sulfoxides via external oxidant-free oxidative condensation of phenylglycinols with DMSO

Oxidative activation of CO, CN and CC bonds has recently emerged as a powerful method for the synthesis of valuable organic compounds. However, these strategies have often required the metal catalysts and strong external oxidants. Herein, we report a new protocol for the convenient construction of vinyl sulfoxides from phenylglycinols and DMSO under basic conditions. Notably, DMSO was used not only as a methyl sulfoxide (−SOMe) reagent, but also as an oxidizing agent. The present system features mild metal- and external oxidant-free conditions, broad scope, and excellent functionality tolerance.