Photocatalyzed Azidofunctionalization of Alkenes via Radical-Polar Crossover

The azidofunctionalization of alkenes under mild conditions using commercially available starting materials and easily accessible reagents is reported based on a radical-polar crossover strategy. A broad range of alkenes, including vinyl arenes, enamides, enol ethers, vinyl sulfides, and dehydroamino esters, were regioselectively functionalized with an azide and nucleophiles such as azoles, carboxylic acids, alcohols, phosphoric acids, oximes, and phenols. The method led to a more efficient synthesis of 1,2-azidofunctionalized pharmaceutical intermediates when compared to previous approaches, resulting in both reduction of step count and increase in overall yield. The scope and limitations of these transformations were further investigated through a standard unbiased selection of 15 substrate combinations out of 1,175,658 possible using a clustering technique.