Denitrative Hydroxylation of Unactivated Nitroarenes.
Lee DuffHarry MeakinAdam RichardsonAndrew J GreenerGeorge W A SmithIvan OcañaVictor ChechikMichael J JamesPublished in: Chemistry (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) (2023)
A one-step method for the conversion of nitroarenes into phenols under operationally simple, transition-metal-free conditions is described. This denitrative functionalization protocol provides a concise and economical alternative to conventional three-step synthetic sequences. Experimental and computational studies suggest that nitroarenes may be substituted by an electron-catalysed radical-nucleophilic substitution (S RN 1) chain mechanism.