Autoxidative Carbon–Carbon Bond Formation from Carbon–Hydrogen Bonds

Abstract

Only oxygen and acid! The oxidative coupling of xanthene and other activated benzylic compounds with carbon nucleophiles such as ketones, can be performed under ambient conditions without solvent by simply using oxygen and catalytic amounts of methanesulfonic acid. The proposed reaction mechanism involves substrate activation by formation of hydroperoxides; the method can therefore be regarded as an “autoxidative coupling reaction”. Detailed facts of importance to specialist readers are published as ”Supporting Information”. Such documents are peer-reviewed, but not copy-edited or typeset. They are made available as submitted by the authors. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.