Copper-catalyzed coupling reaction of benzyl bromide with sulfonyl hydrazide for synthesis of sulfone compounds

Sulfone compounds are found in a wide range of drugs and fine chemicals and have important applications in biochemistry, medicinal chemistry and organic synthesis due to the presence of sulfone skeleton. In this paper, a method for the preparation of sulfone compounds by coupling benzyl bromide with sulfonylhydrazine has been found to produce the coupling product sulfone in yields up to 85% by reaction at room temperature using CuI as catalyst, TBHP as oxidant and K₂CO₃ as base. The method is characterized by good substrate suitability, good to excellent yields and mild reaction conditions, providing a new method for the synthesis of sulfone compounds. Twenty-four sulfone compounds were synthesized by the method and the product structures were characterized by ¹H NMR and ¹³C NMR.