Iodine-Catalyzed α-Hydroxylation of β-Dicarbonyl Compounds

An iodine-catalyzed aerobic alpha-hydroxylation reaction of beta-dicarbonyl compounds is established under transition-metal-free conditions. This synthetic approach is applicable to a broad variety of readily accessible acyclic and cyclic substrates bearing amide, ester, and/or ketone groups, and can be conveniently conducted on a gram scale.

Automated summary

An iodine-catalyzed aerobic alpha-hydroxylation reaction of beta-dicarbonyl compounds is developed. This synthetic method can be applied to a wide range of accessible acyclic and cyclic substrates with amide, ester, and/or ketone groups, and can be conveniently scaled up on a gram scale.