Selective oxidative para C–C dimerization of 2,6-dimethylphenol

Abstract

Mechanistic investigations on the oxidative coupling of 2,6-dimethylphenol have led to the development of a selective and efficient procedure to prepare 3,5,3',5'-tetramethyl-biphenyl-4,4'-diol, via a C-C coupling, mediated by a hypervalent form of iodine, i.e. (diacetoxyiodo)benzene and for which a mechanism is proposed.