Regioselective C-H chalcogenylation and halogenation of arenes and alkenes under metal-free conditions.

The reactions of direct Csp ² -H chalcogenylation and halogenation of N -arylpyrrolidone under the action of PIFA without a directing group and under metal-free conditions were reported in this paper. Diphenyl selenide/sulfur and selenium phenyl halides were used as reaction reagents to obtain chalcogenylated and halogenated N -arylpyrrolidone products, respectively. The mechanistic studies indicated that a radical pathway was likely involved in these reactions. Preliminary antitumor tests showed that these compounds have moderate to potent activities against human acute leukemia cells K562 in vitro , which may be used as lead compounds for subsequent research.