Interception of cobalt-based carbene radicals with α-aminoalkyl radicals: a tandem reaction for the construction of β-ester-γ-amino ketones.

The interception of cobalt-based carbene radicals with α-aminoalkyl radicals was combined with the Kornblum-DeLaMare reaction and provides β-ester-γ-amino ketones, which are otherwise difficult to obtain in high chemoselectivity. Mechanistically, this transformation is an interplay of cobalt-based carbene radicals, organoradicals, and ionic intermediates and involves the construction of two C-C bonds and one C=O bond in a one-pot process. The reaction also features a wide substrate scope and is highly efficient and insensitive to moisture and air.