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Updated: May 3, 2026

Facile Preparation of 2Z,4E-Dienamides by the Olefination of Electron-deficient Alkenes with Allyl Acetate
Published on: June 21, 2017
Conversion of 1-alkenes into 1,4-diols through an auxiliary-mediated formal homoallylic C-H oxidation
Nugzar Ghavtadze1, Ferdinand S Melkonyan1, Anton V Gulevich1
1Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Chicago, 845 West Taylor St, Room 4500, Chicago, Illinois 60607, USA.
Abstract:
The ubiquitous nature of C-H bonds in organic molecules makes them attractive as a target for rapid complexity generation, but brings with it the problem of achieving selective reactions. In developing new methodologies for C-H functionalization, alkenes are an attractive starting material because of their abundance and low cost. Here we describe the conversion of 1-alkenes into 1,4-diols. The method involves the installation of a new Si,N-type chelating auxiliary group on the alkene followed by iridium-catalysed C-H silylation of an unactivated δ-C(sp(3))-H bond to produce a silolane intermediate. Oxidation of the C-Si bonds affords a 1,4-diol. The method is demonstrated to have broad scope and good functional group compatibility by application to the selective 1,4-oxygenation of several natural products and derivatives.
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