Tandem Catalysis: Alcohol Oxidation and C-C Bond Formation via C-H Bond Activation

A tandem process involving oxidation of a benzylic alcohol functionality followed by hydroarylation is described. These two atom-economic sequences are very convenient to access functionalized aromatic ketones, using simple ruthenium trichloride as catalyst precursor. Moreover they appear to be highly compatible, tolerant, and selective toward various functional groups, and the ease of the protocol should make it very convenient for synthetic purposes.