A novel I-promoted direct conversion of arylacetic acids into aryl carboxylic acids under metal-free conditions has been described. This remarkable transformation involves decarboxylation followed by an oxidation reaction enabled just by using DMSO as the solvent as well as an oxidant. Notably, aryl carboxylic acids are isolated by simple filtration technique and obtained in good to excellent yields. This protocol is free from chromatographic purification, which makes it applicable for large-scale synthesis.

An efficient and metal‐free protocol has been developed for the synthesis of α‐ketoesters via oxidative cross coupling of arylglyoxals with alcohols by using N‐bromosuccinimide as an oxidant and 1,8‐Diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec‐7‐ene (DBU) as a base. The process involves cleavage of a C−H bond and construction of a C−O bond. Mild reaction conditions, short reaction time, broad substrate scope, operational simplicity and good to excellent yields of the products are remarkable features of this method.