Facile Barton-McCombie deoxygenation of alcohols with tetrabutylammonium peroxydisulfate and formate ion

A new method for efficient radical deoxygenation of alcohols is described for preparing bulk chemicals avoiding scale-up problems. Treatment of various thiocarbonyl derivatives with (Bu4N)(2)S2O8 and HCO2Na in DMF afforded the corresponding deoxygenated products in excellent yields. The deoxygenation appears to be initiated by the transfer of a single electron to thiocarbonyl derivatives from CO2.- rather than from SO4-.