Herein we describe an aerobic intramolecular dearomative coupling reaction of phenols using a catalytic system with the combination of a chromium–salen (Cr–salen) complex and a nitroxyl radical. This novel catalytic system enables the construction of a spirocyclic dienone product, which is a potentially useful intermediate for the synthesis of various natural products such as alkaloids and phenylpropanoids from bisphenol in good yield under mild reaction conditions (under O2 and ambient temperature). A preliminary mechanistic study suggests that this reaction system is promoted by a cooperative electron transfer between the Cr(III)–salen complex, nitroxyl radical and bisphenol substrate.

8-Azabicyclo[3.2.1]octan-8-ol (ABOOL) and 7-azabicyclo[2.2.1]heptan-7-ol (ABHOL) are the main homologues of hydroxylamine 2-azaadamantan-2-ol (AZADOL) and 9-azabicyclo[3.3.1]nonan-9-ol. Both homologues feature a small bicyclic backbone and are known to be stable; however, to date, they have not been used as catalysts for alcohol oxidation. Herein, we report that these hydroxylamines can efficiently catalyze the oxidation of various secondary alcohols to their corresponding ketones using molecular oxygen in ambient air as the terminal oxidant and copper cocatalysts at room temperature. Furthermore, we show that ABOOL and ABHOL can be easily synthesized from commercially available materials.

A benchtop-stable reagent for the catalytic Nicholas reaction with aromatic molecules was developed.

A versatile method for chemical modification of lithium-ion endohedral fullerene (Li+@C60) to connect various small molecules is described. The designed dieneazide linker enables facile connection of Li+@C60 with small molecules...