# Hypervalent iodine-catalyzed amide and alkene coupling enabled by lithium salt activation

## TL;DR

A new method uses lithium salts to activate hypervalent iodine catalysts, enabling precise coupling of amides and alkenes.

## Contribution

A novel lithium salt activation strategy for hypervalent iodine catalysis is introduced.

## Key findings

- Lithium salts enable activation of hypervalent iodine catalysts for intermolecular coupling.
- Amides can be selectively added to activated olefins with high regioselectivity.

## Abstract

Hypervalent iodine catalysis has been widely utilized in olefin functionalization reactions. Intermolecularly, the regioselective addition of two distinct nucleophiles across the olefin is a challenging process in hypervalent iodine catalysis. We introduce here a unique strategy using simple lithium salts for hypervalent iodine catalyst activation. The activated hypervalent iodine catalyst allows the intermolecular coupling of soft nucleophiles such as amides onto electronically activated olefins with high regioselectivity.