Mechanistic investigations on the oxidative coupling of 2, 6-dimethylphenol have led to the development of a selective and efficient procedure to prepare 3, 5, 3′, 5′-tetramethyl- biphenyl-4, 4′-diol, via a C–C coupling, mediated by a hypervalent form of iodine, ie (diacetoxyiodo) benzene and for which a mechanism is proposed.
