Synergism of Fe/Ti Enabled Regioselective Arene Difunctionalization

J Am Chem Soc. 2023 Jan 25;145(3):1542-1547. doi: 10.1021/jacs.2c13207. Epub 2023 Jan 9.

Abstract

Regioselective difunctionalization of arenes remains a long-standing challenge in organic chemistry. We report a novel and general Fe/Ti synergistic methodology for regioselective synthesis of various polysubstituted arenes through either E/E' or Nu/E ortho difunctionalizations of arenes. Preliminary results showed that an unprecedented 1,2-Fe/Ti heterobimetallic arylene intermediate bearing two distinct C-M bonds is essential to the regioselective difunctionalization.