Development of a general Pd(II) - Catalyzed intermolecular hydroalkoxylation reaction of vinylphenols by using a sacrificial alcohol as the hydride source

A general hydroalkoxylation of vinylphenols has been successfully developed wherein primary, secondary, and tertiary alcohols can be used as nucleophiles. The key conceptual breakthrough is the use of sec-phenethyl alcohol at relatively low concentrations as the sacrificial alcohol to undergo oxidation and provide the proposed Pd-H intermediate.