HOO as the Chain Carrier for the Autocatalytic Photooxidation of Benzylic Alcohols.

The oxidation of benzylic alcohols is an important transformation in modern organic synthesis. A plethora of photoredox protocols have been developed to achieve the aerobic oxidation of alcohols into carbonyls. Recently, several groups described that ultraviolet (UV) or purple light can initiate the aerobic oxidation of benzylic alcohols in the absence of an external catalyst, and depicted different mechanisms involving the photoinduction of O as a critical reactive oxygen species (ROS).

Highly enantioselective addition of 1,3-diynes to aldehydes catalyzed by a zinc-amino alcohol complex.

Asymmetric catalysis: A highly enantioselective and efficient procedure for the amino alcohol-zinc-catalyzed addition of 1,3-diynes to various aromatic, α,β-unsaturated, and aliphatic aldehydes has been developed. The present catalytic system was successfully applied in the concise synthesis of natural products such as (S)-strongylodiols A and B (see scheme).