Visible-Light-Induced Aerobic ortho-Selective C-H Hydroxylation of Benzils
1The State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, and College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, P. R. China.
Abstract:
Herein, we report a visible-light-induced ortho-selective C-H hydroxylation of benzils, which exhibits good functional group tolerance and excellent regioselectivity. This method is scalable, as demonstrated by gram-scale experiments, and is further applied in the synthesis of rotenoids. Control experiments reveal the involvement of singlet oxygen in the reaction mechanism. Moreover, it proceeds via a five-membered ring radical intermediate, with dimethyl sulfoxide serving both as the solvent and reducing agent.
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