Site-Selective C—H Iodination of Phenol Derivatives Using Aryl Iodide as Iodinating Reagent

Site-selective C-H iodination of electron-rich phenols is a challenging reaction. A Pd(II)-catalyzed C-H iodination of free 2-aryl phenols and 2-phenoxyacetic acids using 4-iodo-3-nitroanisole as the mild iodinating reagent was reported. Excellent site-selectivity and good functional group tolerance were obtained with a range of electron rich phenol derivatives. These results suggest that C-H iodination via formal metathesis is a potentially useful method for C-H iodination of challenging substrates.