Although copper (II)-mediated oxidation of phenols results in oxidative coupling rather than in oxygenation, it was recently reported that naturally occurring 5-alkylresorcinols undergo oxygenation in the presence of copper (II). To explore the generality of this reaction, the copper (II)-mediated autoxidation of 4-tert-butylresorcinol and 4, 6-di-tert-butylresorcinol was investigated and was found to result in direct oxygenation at open activated positions and, ...