Selective Dealkylation of Alkyl Aryl Ethers

Dealkylation of alkyl aryl ethers has been extensively explored. In comparison to the reported methods, selective methods that work under mild reaction conditions remain to be developed. Herein we report the development of a method that is selective, dealkylating only one of the methyl groups in polymethylated aryl ether system. This selective dealkylative method is applied to the synthesis of a few advanced intermediates for drug synthesis. Detailed mechanistic studies have shown that this reaction probably proceeds via a single-electron transfer process.