Aryl boronic acid-catalysed dehydrative substitution of benzylic alcohols for C-O bond formation

Susana Estopiñá-Durán, Liam J. Donnelly, Euan B. Mclean, Bryony M. Hockin, Alexandra M. Z. Slawin, James Taylor

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

A combination of pentafluorophenylboronic acid and oxalic acid catalyses the dehydrative substitution of benzylic alcohols with a second alcohol to form new C-O bonds. This method has been applied to the intermolecular substitution of benzylic alcohols to form symmetrical ethers, intramolecular cyclisations of diols to form aryl-substituted tetrahydrofuran and tetrahydropyran derivatives, and intermolecular crossed-etherification reactions between two different alcohols. Mechanistic control experiments have identified a potential catalytic intermediate formed between the arylboronic acid and oxalic acid.
Original languageEnglish
JournalChemistry - A European Journal
VolumeEarly View
Early online date11 Feb 2019
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 11 Feb 2019

Keywords

  • Alcohols
  • Homogeneous catalysis
  • Boronic acids
  • Etherification
  • Substitution

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