CO2-promoted oxidative cross-coupling reaction for C–S bond formation via masked strategy in an odourless way

Cu-catalyzed direct oxidative cross-coupling between boronic acids and masked sulfides delivering thioethers was described, in which the SO3(-), as a mask, has shown a distinctive effect on the oxidative cross-coupling condition. Disulfide could be suppressed efficiently via masked strategy under CO2 atmosphere. A broad scope of aromatics and scalable processes indicates its practicality, which could be further applied to drug late-stage modification and unsymmetrical dibenzothiophenes (DBTs) synthesis.