Pincer-cobalt boosts divergent alkene carbonylation under tandem electro-thermo-catalysis

Catalytic multicomponent carbonylation reactions with high regio- and chemoselectivity represent one of the long-pursued goals in C1 chemistry. We herein disclose a practical cobalt-catalyzed divergent radical alkene carbonylative functionalization under 1 atm of CO at 23 °C. The leverage of the tridentate NNN-type pincer ligand is the key to avoid the formation of catalytically inert Co⁰(CO)_n species and overcome the occurrence of oxidative carbonylation of organozincs, selectively tuning the catalytic reactivity of cobalt center for dictating a full cobalt-catalyzed four-component carbonylation. Moreover, direct use CO₂ as the C1 source in the multicomponent alkene carbonylative couplings can be achieved under a tandem electro-thermo-catalysis, thus allowing us to rapidly and reliably construct unsymmetric ketones with ample scope and excellent functional group compatibility. Remarkably, our protocol encompasses a broader of polyhaloalkanes as the electrophiles, which underwent radical-relay couplings in a completely regio- and chemoselective fashion. Finally, facile modifications of drug-like molecules demonstrate the synthetic utility of this method.