Visible light-induced C3-sulfonamidation of imidazopyridines with sulfamides.

A visible light-induced regioselective sulfonamidation of imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines was developed using sulfamides as the nitrogen sources and aqueous NaClO solution as the oxidant under mild conditions. With the imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines bearing various substituents, the reaction proceeded smoothly to furnish the C3-sulfonamidation products in moderate to good yields. The method was also suitable for the sulfonamidation of some other imidazoheterocycles.