A Triazole-Substituted Aryl Iodide with Omnipotent Reactivity in Enantioselective Oxidations

A widely applicable triazole-substituted chiral aryl iodide is described as catalyst for enantioselective oxidation reactions. The introduction of a substituent in ortho-position to the iodide is key for its high reactivity and selectivity. Besides a robust and modular synthesis, the main advantage of this catalyst is the excellent performance in a plethora of mechanistically diverse enantioselective transformations, such as spirocyclizations, phenol dearomatizations, alpha-oxygenations, and oxidative rearrangements. DFT-calculations of in situ generated [hydroxy(tosyloxy)iodo]arene isomers give an initial rational for the observed reactivity.