Cobalt(III)-Catalyzed Functionalization of Unstrained Carbon-Carbon Bonds through β-Carbon Cleavage of Alcohols

We demonstrate that a simple Co(III)-complex can efficiently catalyze the cleavage of unstrained C-C bonds via the beta-carbon elimination of secondary and tertiary alcohols bearing a directing group. The cobalt-aryl intermediate generated under the reaction conditions can be trapped by different electrophiles to generate a new carbon carbon bond. Some essential features of this new Co-based mechanistic manifold were revealed by preliminary mechanistic studies.