Lewis Base Catalyzed Dioxygenation of Olefins with Hypervalent Iodine Reagents.

1,2-Diols are extremely useful building blocks in organic synthesis. Hypervalent iodine reagents are useful for the vicinal dihydroxylation of olefins to give 1,2-diols under metal-free conditions, but strongly acidic promoters are often required. Herein, we report a catalytic vicinal dioxygenation of olefins with hypervalent iodine reagents using Lewis bases as catalysts. The conditions are mild and compatible with various functional groups.