Visible Light and Hydroxynaphthylbenzimidazoline Promoted Transition-Metal-Catalyst-Free Desulfonylation of N-Sulfonylamides and N-Sulfonylamines.

A visible light promoted process for desulfonylation of N-sulfonylamides and -amines has been developed, in which 1,3-dimethyl-2-hydroxynaphthylbenzimidazoline (HONap-BIH) serves as a light absorbing, electron and hydrogen atom donor, and a household white light-emitting diode serves as a light source. The process transforms various N-sulfonylamide and -amine substrates to desulfonylated products in moderate to excellent yields. The observation that the fluorescence of 1-methyl-2-naphthoxy anion is efficiently quenched by the substrates suggests that the mechanism for the photoinduced desulfonylation reaction begins with photoexcitation of the naphthoxide chromophore in HONap-BIH, which generates an excited species via intramolecular proton transfer between the HONap and BIH moieties.