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Updated: Mar 9, 2026

Retropinacol/Cross-pinacol Coupling Reactions - A Catalytic Access to 1,2-Unsymmetrical Diols
Published on: April 4, 2014
Photocatalytic Dehydrogenative Cross-Coupling of Alkenes with Alcohols or Azoles without External Oxidant
Hong Yi1, Linbin Niu1, Chunlan Song1
1College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, The Institute for Advanced Studies (IAS), Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, Hubei, P.R. China.
Abstract:
Direct cross-coupling between alkenes/R-H or alkenes/RXH is a dream reaction, especially without external oxidants. Inputting energy by photocatalysis and employing a cobalt catalyst as a two-electron acceptor, a direct C-H/X-H cross-coupling with H2 evolution has been achieved for C-O and C-N bond formation. A new radical alkenylation using alkene as the redox compound is presented. A wide range of aliphatic alcohols-even long chain alcohols-are tolerated well in this system, providing a new route to multi-substituted enol ether derivatives using simple alkenes. Additionally, this protocol can also be used for N-vinylazole synthesis. Mechanistic insights reveal that the cobalt catalyst oxidizes the photocatalyst to revive the photocatalytic cycle.
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