Not even a pandemic can slow down Team Nickel, who report a versatile method to effect 1,2-diarylation of diverse alkenyl amine derivatives, including those bearing challenging 1,1- and 1,2-disubstitution patterns. Key to the success of this work was the discovery of sulfonamides as uniquely effective groups for directing the nickel catalysts and then subsequently activating the nitrogen atom for diverse N-functionalization reactions.

For a link to the pre-print, click here: https://chemrxiv.org/articles/Sulfonamide_Directivity_Enables_Ni-Catalyzed_1_2-Diarylation_of_Diverse_Alkenyl_Amines/12642803