Visible-Light-Driven Silver-Catalyzed One-Pot Approach: A Selective Synthesis of Diaryl Sulfoxides and Diaryl Sulfones

An efficient one-pot approach for the synthesis of diaryl sulfoxides and diaryl sulfones using aryl thiols and aryl diazonium salts was developed. The use of a visible-light-driven silver catalysis and the subsequent singlet-oxygen-induced oxidation enabled selective synthesis of sulfoxides and sulfones in the absence of a photocatalyst. The reactions were carried out under mild reaction conditions; the desired products were obtained under air atmosphere at room temperature.