Nucleophilic substitution reactions: A radical alternative to SN_1 and SN_2 reactions

Abstract

Classical methods for achieving nucleophilic substitutions of alkyl electrophiles (SN_1 and SN_2) have limited scope and are not generally amenable to enantioselective variants that employ readily available racemic electrophiles. In this presentation, we will describe how the combination of radical chem. and transition-metal catalysis has opened the door to addressing the challenges of reactivity and of enantioselectivity in nucleophilic substitution reactions of secondary and tertiary alkyl electrophiles.

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