Photodriven Iron-Catalyzed Selective Oxidative Coupling of Benzylic Alcohols to Afford 1,2-Diols under Air

In light of future sustainability and social/environmental well-being, the integration of abundant metal catalysts with cost-effective, readily available oxidants to achieve high-value transformations of chemicals holds significant importance in green chemistry. Herein, we have disclosed an iron-catalyzed selective oxidative coupling of benzylic alcohols into 1,2-diols under air. Particularly in this study, overoxidation to aldehydes or carboxylic acids was efficiently avoided. This offers an efficient and economical route for the selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol.