Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol.138, No.44, 14582-14585, 2016
Metal-Free Approach to Biaryls from Phenols and Aryl Sulfoxides by Temporarily Sulfur-Tethered Regioselective C-H/C-H Coupling
We have developed metal-free regiocontrolled dehydrogenative C-H/C-H cross-coupling of aryl sulfoxides with phenols by means of trifluoroacetic anhydride. Because the reaction would proceed through an interrupted Pummerer reaction followed by sulfonium-tethered [3,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement, the C-H/C-H coupling takes place exclusively between the ortho positions of both substrates. Various functional groups including carbonyl, halo, siloxy, and even boryl moieties are compatible. The biaryl products naturally possess hydroxy and sulfanyl groups, which allows the products to be useful synthetic intermediates, as evidenced by the syntheses of pi-expanded heteroarenes such as unprecedented 7,12-dioxa[8]helicene.