Metal-free dehydrogenative couplings of aryliodanes with phenols to afford 2-hydroxy-2'-iodobiaryls have been developed. This reaction proceeds through ligand exchange on the hypervalent iodine atom followed by a [3,3] sigmatropic rearrangement and with complete regioselectivity. This coupling, in combination with in situ oxidation by mCPBA, enables the convenient conversion of iodoarenes into desirable biaryls. The obtained biaryls have convertible iodo and hydroxy groups in close proximity, and are thus synthetically useful, as exemplified by the controlled syntheses of π-extended furans and a substituted [5]helicene. DFT calculations clearly revealed that the rearrangement is sigmatropic, with C-C bond formation and I-O bond cleavage proceeding in a concerted manner. Acetic acid, which was found to be the best solvent for this protocol, renders the iodine atom more cationic and thus accelerates the sigmatropic rearrangement.

Facile synthesis of fluorinated benzofurans from polyfluorophenols has been accomplished by means of a sigmatropic dearomatization/defluorination strategy composed of three processes: (1) interrupted Pummerer reaction of ketene dithioacetal monoxides with polyfluorophenols followed by [3,3] sigmatropic rearrangement, (2) Zn-mediated smooth reductive removal of fluoride from the dearomatized intermediate, and (3) acid-promoted cyclization/aromatization. Mechanistic investigations revealed important characteristic reactivity of polyfluorophenols in the present system. Some of the fluorinated benzofuran products were transformed by utilizing the 2-methylsulfanyl moieties.

Metal‐free dehydrogenative couplings of aryliodanes with phenols to afford 2‐hydroxy‐2′‐iodobiaryls have been developed. This reaction proceeds through ligand exchange on the hypervalent iodine atom followed by a [3,3] sigmatropic rearrangement and with complete regioselectivity. This coupling, in combination with in situ oxidation by mCPBA, enables the convenient conversion of iodoarenes into desirable biaryls. The obtained biaryls have convertible iodo and hydroxy groups in close proximity, and are thus synthetically useful, as exemplified by the controlled syntheses of π‐extended furans and a substituted [5]helicene. DFT calculations clearly revealed that the rearrangement is sigmatropic, with C−C bond formation and I−O bond cleavage proceeding in a concerted manner. Acetic acid, which was found to be the best solvent for this protocol, renders the iodine atom more cationic and thus accelerates the sigmatropic rearrangement.