Electrochemically Enabled Selenium Catalytic Synthesis of 2,1-Benzoxazoles from o-Nitrophenylacetylenes.

The study reported an electrochemically mediated method for the preparation of 2,1-benzoxazoles from o-nitrophenylacetylenes. Different from the traditional electrochemical reduction of nitro to nitroso, the nitro group directly underwent a cyclization reaction with the alkyne activated by selenium cation generated by the anodic oxidation of diphenyl diselenide and finally produced the desired products.