Secondary silylium ion drives one-pot ketone sulfonamidation, reaching 95% yields

A research team has developed a novel organocatalysis method based on a silylium Lewis acid. This technology employs an ion-pair catalyst combining a diethylsilylium ion with a weakly coordinating anion, enabling the direct installation of sulfonamide groups into functionalized ketone compounds, including β-ketoesters, which had previously been difficult to react using conventional catalytic methods.