Palladium/NHC-catalyzed tandem benzylic oxidation/oxidative esterification of benzylic alcohols with phenols

A palladium/NHC-catalyzed tandem benzylic oxidation/oxidative esterification of benzylic alcohols with phenols to access aryl benzoate derivatives is described. The procedure tolerates a series of functional groups, such as methoxy, nitro, cyano, chloro, fluoro and bromo groups. Thus, it represents a practically alternative method to access aryl benzoate derivatives. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.