title: Free-radical hydroxylation reactions of alkylboronates.
abstract: The radical hydroxylation of B-alkylcatecholboranes, easily prepared by hydroboration of olefins, has been investigated. When molecular oxygen was used as oxidizing agent, the corresponding alcohols were obtained directly without alkaline treatment. The presence of Lewis base additives such as Et3N or DABCO has a benefic effect on the selectivity and yield. Alternatively, 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-N-oxyl (TEMPO) reacts cleanly with B-alkylcatecholboranes to afford alkyl radicals that can be trapped by a second equivalent of TEMPO to give alkoxyamines. Reduction of the alkoxyamines with zinc in acetic acid affords the desired alcohols. The whole procedure is particularly mild and does not require any basic condition. The two approaches presented in this paper are valuable and represent mild alternatives to the classical alkaline oxidation of organoboranes to alcohols.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Chimie Organique associé au CNRS, ESPCI, 10 rue Vauquelin, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cadot
authors.forename: Peter I
authors.initials: PI
authors.lastname: Dalko
authors.forename: Janine
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cossy
authors.forename: Cyril
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ollivier
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chuard
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Renaud