Cross dehydrogenative coupling (CDC) of aldehydes with N-hydroxyimides by visible light photoredox catalysis

A photoinduced cross-dehydrogenative-coupling (CDC) reaction between aldehydes and N-hydroxyimides has been developed for the synthesis of ester derivatives. Using 2 mol% [Ru(bpy)(3)]Cl-2 in dry acetonitrile at room temperature with an LED light bulb, we were able to synthesize N-hydroxyesters in good yields. The ester derivatives are very useful synthetic intermediates, which were transformed to amide and oxazole building blocks in excellent yields.