Aerobic Photooxidative Cleavage of Vicinal Diols to Carboxylic Acids Using 2-Chloroanthraquinone

Abstract

We developed the aerobic photooxidative cleavage of vicinal diols to carboxylic acids using 2-chloroanthraquinone in the presence of photoirradiation with a high-pressure mercury lamp. This is the first metal-free reaction using molecular oxygen as the terminal oxidant.