Fe/Ni Synergistic Catalytic System

Alkene 1,1-Difunctionalization

Leveraging the Lewis acidity of iron and redox activity of nickel in synergy, this system enables efficient electrochemical 1,1-difunctionalization of aryl halides with unactivated alkenes, featuring broad substrate scope and scalability.

Hu, Pengwei · Yang, Chao · Guo, Lin · Xia, Wujiong

Nature Communications 2026

Specifications

Substrate examples

{'zh': '100', 'en': '100'}

Gram-scale yield

{'zh': '63', 'en': '63'} %

Advantages

Broad substrate scope

Applicable to electron-rich and electron-deficient aryl halides, polycyclic compounds, and bioactive natural products, with 100 examples.

Scalable

Gram-scale synthesis maintains 63% yield, supporting industrial viability.

Mechanistic insight

Mechanistic studies elucidate the unique cooperativity of this iron-nickel bimetallic system, providing a theoretical framework for the design of diverse difunctionalization reactions.

Applications

• Fine Chemical Synthesis：Efficiently construct complex molecular frameworks for high-value fine chemicals.
• Late-Stage Drug Modification：Enable late-stage functionalization of drug molecules to rapidly generate new candidates.
• Natural Product Derivatization：Derivatize natural products for structure-activity relationship studies.
• Small Molecule Drug Candidate Synthesis：Assemble drug candidates under mild electrochemical conditions, improving synthetic efficiency.