Heterogeneous Chitosan@copper Catalyzed Selective C(sp3)–H Sulfonylation of Ketone Hydrazones with Sodium Sulfinates: Direct Access to β-Ketosulfones

The exploration of inexpensive and stable heterogeneous catalysts for C–S coupling reactions remains a challenging issue. Herein, we successfully prepared a new biomass-derived copper catalyst and applied it to the selective C(sp3)–H-directed sulfonylation of ketone hydrazones with commercial sodium sulfinates. The catalyst was characterized using different spectroscopic and microscopic techniques. Importantly, the prepared biomass-supported Cu catalyst catalyzed the C–S coupling reaction with considerably high activity. A variety of aryl and alkyl sulfinates were converted to the corresponding sulfones with good yields. In particular, the heterogeneous catalyst could be recovered easily after the synthesis and consecutively used at least five times with no appreciable decrease in the catalytic activity. Lastly, the copper catalyst is expected to have further applications in organic reactions catalyzed by Cu/CuO2.Keywords:biomass-derived;copper catalysts;heterogeneous;C–S coupling