Scalable and Phosphine-Free Conversion of Alcohols to Carbon–Heteroatom Bonds through the Blue Light-Promoted Iodination Reaction

One of the fundamental and highly valuable transformations in organic chemistry is the nucleophilic substitution of alcohols. Traditionally, these reactions require strategies that employ stoichiometric hazardous reagents and are associated with difficulty in purification of the by-products. To overcome these challenges, here, we report a simple route toward the diverse conversion of alcohols via an SN2 pathway, in which blue light-promoted iodination is used to form alkyl iodide intermediates from simple unreactive alcohols. The scope of the process tolerates a range of nucleophiles to construct C–N, C–O, C–S, and C–C bonds. Furthermore, we also demonstrate that this method can be used for the preparation and late-stage functionalization of pharmaceuticals, as highlighted by the syntheses of thiocarlide, butoxycaine, and pramoxine.