Electrochemical S–H and O–H insertion reactions from thiols or salicylic acids with diazo esters

An electrochemical carbenoid insertion reaction of diazo compounds into C-S and C-O bonds with electricity as the oxidant has been reported in this work. In this protocol, this transformation proceeded smoothly under mild conditions at room temperature in the absence of a catalyst and a ligand. In addition, the yield of the S-H insertion product was up to 96% and the O-H product could be efficiently obtained in up to 80% yield. Of note is that this environmentally friendly strategy exhibited excellent applicability in gram-scale synthesis.