Ortho- and para-selective ruthenium-catalyzed C(sp2)-H oxygenations of phenol derivatives.

Versatile ruthenium catalysts allowed for efficient direct oxygenations of aryl carbamates under remarkably mild reaction conditions. In addition to chelation-assisted C-H activation, the optimized ruthenium catalyst proved amenable to para-selective hydroxylations of anisoles without Lewis basic directing groups.