Reductive cleavage of sulfones and sulfonamides by neutral organic super electron-donor (S.E.D.) reagent

The sulfonyl group finds extensive applications in organic and medicinal chemistry both in sulfonamides, popular as robust protecting groups for amines,1 and in sulfones.2 Frequently, sulfones are introduced into synthetic schemes to assist particular transformations; further progress along the synthetic route can later require the removal of a sulfone group, and this can be achieved by reductive desulfonylation2,3,6 or, in the special cases of R-halo- or â-acyloxysulfones, by elimination to an alkene.2-