Selective transition-metal-free vicinal cis-dihydroxylation of saturated hydrocarbons

Abstract

A transition-metal-free cis-dihydroxylation of saturated hydrocarbons under ambient reaction conditions has been developed. The described approach allows a direct and selective synthesis of vicinal diols. The new reaction thereby proceeds via radical iodination and a sequence of oxidation steps. A broad scope of one-pot dual C(sp³)–H bond functionalization for the selective synthesis of vicinal syn-diols was demonstrated.