Ambient-Temperature Carbon-Oxygen Bond Cleavage of an α-Aryloxy Ketone with Cp2Ti(BTMSA) and Selective Protonolysis of the Resulting Ti-OR Bonds

Reaction of Cp2Ti[eta(2)-(CSiMe3)(2)] with an alpha-aryloxy ketone produces a Ti(IV) enolate aryloxide complex. Selective protonolysis of the enolate ligand or both Ti-OR bonds can be achieved with various acids. The reaction of the enolate aryloxide with 1-phenyl-2-phenoxyethanol is catalyzed by a mixture of NEt3 and [HNEt3]X (X = OTf, BPh4).