Reported here is the catalytic, acceptorless coupling of alcohols with in situ generated, non-stabilized phosphonium ylides to form olefins as major products. The reaction uses low catalyst loadings and does not require added oxidants. Hydrogenation of the product is minimized and the reaction leads to Z (aliphatic) or E (benzylic) stereospecificity.

A direct arylation to furnish diarylmethanes from benzyl alcohols was realized through Pd(PPh3)4-catalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura coupling via benzylic C-O activation in the absence of any additives. The arylation is compatible with various functional groups. This development provides an atom- and step-economic way to approach a diarylmethane scaffold under mild and environmentally benign conditions.

In a palladium-catalyzed oxidative esterification, hydrosilane can serve as an activator of palladium catalyst with bismuth, thus leading to a novel ligand- and silver-free palladium catalyst system for facile oxidative esterification of a variety of benzylic alcohols in good yields.

A novel and highly practical copper-catalyzed aerobic alcohol oxidation system with L-proline as the ligand at room temperature has been developed. A wide range of primary and secondary benzylic alcohols tested have been smoothly transformed into corresponding aldehydes and ketones with high yields and selectivities.

Allylic and benzylic alcohols can be selectively oxidized to their corresponding aldehydes or ketones in water containing nanoreactors composed of the designer surfactant TPGS-750-M. The oxidation relies on catalytic amounts of CuBr, bpy, and TEMPO, with N-methyl-imidazole; air is the stoichiometric oxidant.

Selective aerobic oxidation of benzylic alcohols and of activated aromatic hydrocarbons occurs in supercritical CO2 as reaction medium using H5PV2Mo10O40 as a quasi-heterogeneous catalyst without further additives or co-solvents; efficient recycling is possible and no metal leaching is detectable in the product stream.

A non-hygroscopic tetraphenylborate salt of N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide (NMO) is reported (NMO⋅TPB), which modulates the standard Ley-Griffith oxidation such that benzylic and allylic alcohols are oxidised selectively. An attractive feature of this new protocol is that anhydrous conditions are not required for this selective tetra-n-propylammonium perruthenate (TPAP) oxidation, superseding the r...

We report the cross-dehydrative reaction of two alcohols to form unsymmetrical ethers using NHC–gold(I) complexes (NHC = N-heterocyclic carbene). Our progress in developing this reaction into a straightforward procedure is discussed in detail. The optimised methodology proceeds under mild reaction conditions and produces water as the sole by-product. The synthetic utility of this environmentall...

The efficiency and selectivity of hydrogen atom transfer from organic molecules are often difficult to control in the presence of multiple potential hydrogen atom donors and acceptors. Here, we describe the mechanistic evaluation of a mode of catalytic activation that accomplishes the highly selective photoredox α-alkylation/lactonization of alcohols with methyl acrylate via a hydrogen atom tra...

Rhenium nanocrystalline particles (Re NPs), of 2 nm size, were prepared from NH4ReO4 under mild conditions in neat alcohol. The unsupported Re NPs convert secondary and benzylic alcohols to ketones and aldehydes, respectively, through catalytic acceptorless dehydrogenation (AD). The oxidant- and acceptor-free neat dehydrogenation of alcohols to obtain dihydrogen gas is a green and atom-economic...