Ketones from aldehydes via alkyl C(sp³)-H functionalization under photoredox cooperative NHC/palladium catalysis

Direct synthesis of ketones from aldehydes features high atom- and step-economy. Yet, the coupling of aldehydes with unactivated alkyl C(sp³)-H remains challenging. Herein, we develop the synthesis of ketones from aldehydes via alkyl C(sp³)-H functionalization under photoredox cooperative NHC/Pd catalysis. The two-component reaction of iodomethylsilyl alkyl ether with aldehydes gave a variety of β-, γ- and δ-silyloxylketones via 1,n-HAT (n = 5, 6, 7) of silylmethyl radicals to generate secondary or tertiary alkyl radicals and following coupling with ketyl radicals from aldehydes under photoredox NHC catalysis. The three-component reaction with the addition of styrenes gave the corresponding ε-hydroxylketones via the generation of benzylic radicals by the addition of alkyl radicals to styrenes and following coupling with ketyl radicals. This work demonstrates the generation of ketyl radical and alkyl radical under the photoredox cooperative NHC/Pd catalysis, and provides two and three component reactions for the synthesis of ketones from aldehydes with alkyl C(sp³)-H functionalization. The synthetic potential of this protocol was also further illustrated by the late-stage functionalization of natural products.