ortho-Quinone methides are useful transient synthetic intermediates in organic synthesis. These species are most often generated in situ by the acid- or base-mediated transformation of phenols that have been pre-functionalized at a benzylic position, or by biomimetic oxidation of the corresponding ortho-alkylphenols with metal oxidants or transition-metal complexes. Here we describe a method for the transition-metal-free oxidative generation of o-QMs from ortho-alkylarenols, using hypoiodite catalysis under nearly neutral conditions, which can then be applied in one-pot tandem reactions. This method for the chemoselective oxidative generation of ortho-quinone methides may prove superior to previous methods with respect to environmental issues and scope, and can be applied to various tandem reactions such as inter- or intramolecular [4 + 2] cycloaddition, oxa-6π-electrocyclization, conjugate addition and spiroepoxidation.

在有机合成中，邻醌醌是有用的瞬态合成中间体。这些物质最通常是通过在苯甲基位置已预官能化的酚的酸或碱介导的转化，或通过用金属氧化剂或过渡金属络合物仿生氧化相应的邻烷基酚而原位产生的。在这里，我们描述了一种在近中性条件下使用次碘酸盐催化从邻烷基芳烃中无过渡金属氧化生成o -QMs的方法，然后可将其应用于一锅串联反应中。该方法用于邻位化学选择性氧化生成就环境问题和范围而言，甲基苯醌被证明优于以前的方法，可用于各种串联反应，例如分子间或分子内[4 + 2]环加成，氧杂6π电环化，共轭加成和螺环氧化。