Click Reaction of Selenols with Isocyanates: Rapid Access to Selenocarbamates as Peroxide-Switchable Reservoir of Thiol-Peroxidase-Like Catalysts

Selenols react with isocyanates under mild catalyst-free conditions to generate selenocarbamates in good yield and with high selectivity over potentially competing nucleophilic additions. The methodology enables the incorporation of a wide variety of functional groups providing access to a broad array of densely functionalised selenocarbamates. In the presence of competing heteroatom-centered nucleophiles, isocyanates selectively couple with selenols. Selenocarbamates exhibited thiol-peroxidase-like properties, enabling the reduction of hydrogen peroxide at the expense of thiols, which are converted into the corresponding disulfides. A series of control experiments suggested that the catalytic mechanism proceeds through a pathway, involving a H2O2-promoted transcarbamoylation reaction leading to a thiocarbamate with concomitant releasing of catalytically active selenolate anions. By undergoing peroxide-driven thiol-selenol exchange, selenocarbamates behave as equivalents of selenolate anions with thiol-peroxidase-like activity.