Aerobic Oxidative Cleavage and Esterification of C(OH)–C Bonds

C(OH)–C bonds are widely distributed in naturally renewable biomass, such as carbohydrates, lignin, and their platform molecules. Selective cleavage and functionalization of C(OH)–C bonds is an attractive strategy in terms of producing value-added chemicals from biomass. However, effective transformation of alcohols into esters by activation of C(OH)–C bonds has not been achieved so far. Herein, for the first time, we report selective cleavage and esterification of C(OH)–C bonds, catalyzed by inexpensive copper salts, using environmentally benign oxygen as the oxidant, to afford methyl esters in excellent yields. A diverse range of phenylethanol derivatives that contain C(OH)–C bonds were effectively converted into methyl benzoates. Detailed analysis revealed that the high efficiency and selectivity resulted mainly from the fact that, in addition to the major esterification reaction, the side products (e.g., olefins and acids) were also transformed in situ into esters in the reaction system.