Non-Palladium-Catalyzed Oxidative Coupling Reactions Using Hypervalent Iodine Reagents

Iodine(V)-Based Oxidants in Oxidation Reactions

The chemistry of hypervalent iodine reagents has now become quite valuable due to the reactivity of these compounds under mild reaction conditions and their resemblance in chemical properties to transition metals. The environmentally friendly nature of these reagents makes them suitable for Green Chemistry. Reagents with a dual nature, such as iodine(III) reagents, are capable electrophiles, while iodine(V) reagents are known for their strong oxidant behavior. Various iodine(V) reagents including IBX and DMP have been used as oxidants in organic synthesis either in stoichiometric or in catalytic amounts. In this review article, we describe various oxidation reactions induced by iodine(V) reagents reported in the past decade.

Design, development and applications of copper-catalyzed regioselective (4 + 2) annulations between diaryliodonium salts and alkynes

Diaryliodonium salts have been extensively applied in organic synthesis as aryl cation equivalents. However, in the electrophilic reactions with alkenes or alkynes, only the electrophilic carbon of the diaryliodonium salts was involved while the other part of the aryl ring was not utilized. Herein, a reaction pattern of diaryliodonium was reported as oxa-1,4-dipoles to undergo (4 + 2) cycloaddition reactions with alkynes. Broad spectrum of the two reaction partners could be utilized in this protocol, enabling an operationally simple, high yielding, and regioselective synthetic approach to isocoumarins. Particularly, good to excellent regioselectivities were achieved for the sterically unbiased unsymmetrical diaryl acetylenes, which was challenging for other transition metal-catalyzed processes. The reaction could be scaled up with the ideal 1:1 stoichiometry and the isocoumarin type natural products Oospolactone and Thunberginol A could be obtained in one or three steps through this methodology.

An Unexpected Reaction between Diaryliodonium Salts and DMSO

Diaryliodonium salts are useful arylating reagents that have been exploited widely. In this Communication, we demonstrate that heating diphenyliodonium triflate in the solvent DMSO leads to an unexpected arylation reaction. It is postulated that arylation of DMSO at oxygen, followed by a thia-Sommelet–Hauser rearrangement, leads to the formation of 2-thiomethylphenols. More substituted diaryliodonium salts and cyclic diaryliodonium salts are shown to be more stable and less likely to react with DMSO. In conclusion, when using iodonium salts dissolved in DMSO, beware of side-reactions.