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A mechanistic study of arylations of aliphatic alcohols and hydroxide with diaryliodonium salts, to give alkyl aryl ethers and diaryl ethers, has been performed using experimental techniques and DFT calculations. Aryne intermediates have been trapped, and additives to avoid by-product formation originating from arynes have been found. An alcohol oxidation pathway was observed in parallel to arylation; this is suggested to proceed by an intramolecular mechanism. Product formation pathways via ligand coupling and arynes have been compared, and 4-coordinated transition states were found to be favored in reactions with alcohols. Furthermore, a novel, direct nucleophilic substitution pathway has been identified in reactions with electron-deficient diaryliodonium salts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of picolinic acid amide derivatives as an effective family of bidentate ligands for copper-catalysed aryl ether synthesis is reported. A fluorine-substituted ligand gave good results in the synthesis of a wide range of aryl ethers. Even bulky phenols, known to be very challenging substrates, were shown to react with aryl iodides with excellent yields using these ligands. At the end of the reaction, the first examples of end-of-life Cu species were isolated and identified as CuII complexes with several of the anionic ligands tested. A preliminary mechanistic investigation is reported that suggests that the substituents on the ligands might have a crucial role in determining the redox properties of the metal centre and, consequently, its efficacy in the coupling process. An understanding of these effects is important for the development of new efficient and tunable ligands for copper-based chemistry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using Bi2(SO4)3 as the catalyst and TMSCl as the additive, a wide variety of aldehydes, ketones, and acetals were smoothly condensed with aryl ethers at room temperature to provide the corresponding diarylmethanes and triarylmethanes selectively in good to excellent yields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reaction of aryl fluorides with silyl reagents has been shown to be efficiently promoted by tetrabutylammonium fluoride, providing aryl ethers with good to excellent yields under solvent-free conditions. The efficiency of this reaction was demonstrated by the compatibility with aldehyde, nitro, cyano and acetyl groups. Moreover, the rigorous exclusion of air/moisture was not required in these transformations which proceeded under milder conditions than previously reported reactions of this type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]