Phenol and its derivatives are fundamental building blocks in organic synthesis and materials science. Over the past decades, tremendous attention has been paid to construct functionalized phenols, and various methods have been developed. Owing to the high efficiency and mild reaction conditions, synthesis of phenols from the hydroxylation of aryl boronic compounds has been emerging as a promising approach. In this review, we summarize the progress using aryl boronic compounds as starting reagents to synthesize phenol deriva- [a]

The catalytic hydrogenation of organic compounds containing carbonyl groups has been extensively studied and widely used in industrial processes. Herein, we report the preparation of a novel nanomaterial, α-zirconium phosphate (α-ZrP) nanoplatelet-supported ruthenium nano-anadem catalyst, which possesses high selectivity in the catalytic hydrogenation of aromatic ketones. The α-ZrP nanoplatelets were prepared using a modified reflux method. Through an ion-exchange and reduction reaction pathway, ruthenium nanoparticles were loaded on ZrP to produce Ru-ZrP with a nano-anadem structure. The successful synthesis of Ru-ZrP composites is supported by a series of characterization techniques (PXRD, SEM, TEM, EDS, XPS, FT-IR, etc.). Compared with pure ZrP nanoplatelets, the catalytic hydrogenation of acetophenone has been dramatically improved when using Ru-ZrP. Full conversion was achieved at room temperature, and the yield of 1-cyclohexylehtanol was up to 95%. The effects of reaction time, reaction temperature, and hydrogen pressure were investigated. The investigation illustrates that there are two proposed reaction pathways in the hydrogenation of acetophenone, which are further supported by computational analyses. Recycling experiments indicate that the Ru-ZrP material could be reused four times without a noticeable activity decrease.

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The Front Cover shows the synthesis of functionalized phenols from aromatic boronic compounds. Owing to the high efficiency and mild reaction conditions, using aryl boronic compounds as starting reagents to synthesize phenol derivatives has been emerging as a promising approach in the last ten years. An outlook regarding the current challenges and future perspectives for the preparation of functionalized phenols from aryl boronic compounds is also presented. More information can be found in the Full Paper by G. Ding, Q. Zhang et al.