22494-35-5Relevant articles and documents
Catalytic Activation of Unstrained C(Aryl)-C(Alkyl) Bonds in 2,2′-Methylenediphenols
Dong, Guangbin,Ratchford, Benjamin L.,Xue, Yibin,Zhang, Rui,Zhu, Jun
supporting information, p. 3242 - 3249 (2022/02/23)
Catalytic activation of unstrained and nonpolar C-C bonds remains a largely unmet challenge. Here, we describe our detailed efforts in developing a rhodium-catalyzed hydrogenolysis of unstrained C(aryl)-C(alkyl) bonds in 2,2′-methylenediphenols aided by removable directing groups. Good yields of the monophenol products are obtained with tolerating a wide range of functional groups. In addition, the reaction is scalable, and the catalyst loading can be reduced to as low as 0.5 mol %. Moreover, this method proves to be effective to cleave C(aryl)-C(alkyl) linkages in both models of phenolic resins and commercial novolacs resins. Finally, detailed experimental and computational mechanistic studies show that with C-H activation being a competitive but reversible off-cycle reaction, this transformation goes through a directed C(aryl)-C(alkyl) oxidative addition pathway.
