A novel catalytic hypervalent iodine oxidation of p-alkoxyphenols to p-quinones using 4-iodophenoxyacetic acid and oxone

A novel catalytic hypervalent iodine oxidation of phenol derivatives using 4-iodophenoxyacetic acid and Oxone (R) was developed. Reaction of p-alkoxyphenols with a catalytic amount of 4-iodophenoxyacetic acid in the presence of Oxone (R) as a co-oxidant in acetonitrile-water (2:1) gave the corresponding p-quinones in excellent yields without purification.