Kharasch-Type Haloalkylation of Alkenes by Photoinduced Copper Catalysis

The simultaneous construction of C-C and C-X bonds in a single step facilitates multistep synthesis through rapid carbon chain growth and subsequent transformations of halide functionalities. Traditional Kharasch addition requires simple polyhalogenated compounds or those with electron-withdrawing groups at the α-carbon. Herein, we present a Kharasch-type reaction utilizing a broad range of carboxylic acid-derived redox-active esters as the alkyl source, which enables the efficient introduction of highly functionalized alkyl groups. Our method produces α-halo carbonyls that enable versatile nucleophilic substitutions for synthesizing valuable compounds, such as unnatural α-amino acids.