ABSTRACT
The synthesis of chiral tetrahydrofurans and pyrrolidines starting from 1,2-diols or ß-amino alcohols, respectively, by visible-light-mediated deoxygenation is described. Easily accessible monoallylated/propargylated substrates were activated either as inexpensive ethyl oxalates or as recyclable 3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)benzoates to generate alkyl radicals suitable for 5-exo-trig/5-exo-dig cyclizations under visible-light irradiation.
ABSTRACT
Carbon-oxygen single bonds are ubiquitous in natural products whereas efficient methods for their reductive defunctionalization are rare. In this work an environmentally benign protocol for the activation of carbon-oxygen single bonds of alcohols towards a reductive bond cleavage under visible light photocatalysis was developed. Alcohols were activated as 3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)-substituted benzoates and irradiation with blue light in the presence of [Ir(ppy)2(dtb-bpy)](PF6) as visible light photocatalyst and Hünig's base as sacrificial electron donor in an acetonitrile/water mixture generally gave good to excellent yields of the desired defunctionalized compounds. Functional group tolerance is high but the protocol developed is limited to benzylic, α-carbonyl, and α-cyanoalcohols; with other alcohols a slow partial C-F bond reduction in the 3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)benzoate moiety occurs.
