title: H-bonding activation in highly regioselective acetylation of diols.
abstract: H-bonding activation in the regioselective acetylation of vicinal and 1,3-diols is presented. Herein, the acetylation of the hydroxyl group with acetic anhydride can be activated by the formation of H-bonds between the hydroxyl group and anions. The reaction exhibits high regioselectivity when a catalytic amount of tetrabutylammonium acetate is employed. Mechanistic studies indicated that acetate anion forms dual H-bonding complexes with the diol, which facilitates the subsequent regioselective monoacetylation.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science & Technology , Luoyu Road 1037, Wuhan 430074, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yixuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rahm
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Xiaoling
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.forename: Hai
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dong