Iodine-catalyzed transformation of aryl-substituted alcohols under solvent-free and highly concentrated reaction conditions

Abstract

Iodine-catalyzed transformations of alcohols under solvent-free reaction conditions (SFRC) and under highly concentrated reaction conditions (HCRC) in the presence of various solvents were studied in order to gain insight into the behavior of the reaction intermediates under these conditions. Dimerization, dehydration and substitution were the three types of transformations observed with benzylic alcohols. Dimerization and substitution reactions were predominant in the case of primary- and secondary alcohols, whereas dehydration prevailed in the case of tertiary alcohols. The relative reactivity of substituted 1-phenylethanols in I2-catalyzed dimerization under SFRC provided a good Hammett plot ρ+ = -2.8 (r2 = 0.98), suggesting the presence of electron-deficient intermediates with a certain degree of developed charge in the rate-determining step.