Visible-Light-Induced Alkoxyl Radical Generation Enables Selective C(sp3)-C(sp3) Bond Cleavage and Functionalizations

The alkoxyl radical is an important reactive intermediate in mechanistic studies and organic synthesis; however, its current generation from alcohol oxidation heavily relies on transition metal activation under strong oxidative conditions. Here we report the first visible-light induced alcohol oxidation to generate alkoxyl radicals by cyclic iodine(III) reagent catalysis under mild reaction conditions. The beta-fragmentation of alkoxyl radicals enables selective C(sp(3))-C(sp(3)) bond cleavage and alkynylation/alkenylation reactions with various strained cycloalkanols, and for the first time with linear alcohols.