Yu Xiao-Ye, Chen Jun, Chen Hong-Wei, Xiao Wen-Jing, Chen Jia-Rong
CCNU-uOttawa Joint Research Centre, Hubei International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Base of Pesticide and Green Synthesis, Key Laboratory of Pesticides & Chemical Biology Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Central China Normal University, 152 Luoyu Road, Wuhan, Hubei 430079, China.
State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China.
Org Lett. 2020 Mar 20;22(6):2333-2338. doi: 10.1021/acs.orglett.0c00532. Epub 2020 Mar 11.
A visible-light-driven, copper-catalyzed C(sp)-O coupling of benzylic radicals with phenols is described for the first time. This operationally simple and robust process features mild conditions, broad scope, and high functional-group tolerance, enabling the construction of a diverse range of cyanoalkylated aryl ethers (33 examples). Key to this protocol is the dual role of copper salt that acts not only as a photosensitizer but also as a cross-coupling catalyst.
