Facile Synthesis of Diaryl Sulfones through Arylsulfonylation of Arynes and Thiosulfonates

Abstract A mild and transition-metal-free arylsulfonylation reaction of arynes has been developed. Arynes generated in situ from 2-(trimethylsilyl)aryl triflates undergo nucleophilic addition with thiosulfonates to produce diaryl sulfones in 41–99% yield. The reaction can be scaled easily to gram-scale with the high yield maintained. Finally, mechanistic experiments showed that acetonitrile acted as a proton source.