Organic Letters 2012-06-01

Ruthenium(II)-catalyzed synthesis of hydroxylated arenes with ester as an effective directing group.

Yiqing Yang, Yun Lin, Yu Rao

Index: Org. Lett. 14(11) , 2874-7, (2012)

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Abstract

An unprecedented Ru(II) catalyzed ortho-hydroxylation has been developed for the facile synthesis of a variety of multifunctionalized arenes from easily accessible ethyl benzoates with ester as an efficient directing group. Both the TFA/TFAA cosolvent system and oxidants serve as the critical success factors in this transformation. The reaction demonstrates excellent reactivity, good functional group tolerance, and high yields.