A new strategy, a transient homocoupling dimer strategy, for direct catalytic oxidative cross-enolate coupling reactions is developed. Cross-enolate coupling products bearing a (contiguous) tetrasubstituted carbon center were obtained chemoselectively without the need for stoichiometric amounts of strong bases/metal oxidants, and thus, the present catalysis provides a general method for the synthesis
Chemoselective iron-catalyzed dehydrogenative cross-coupling using 2-acylimidazoles is described. The addition of a phosphine oxide ligand substantially facilitated the generation of tert-butoxy radicals from di-tert-butyl peroxide, allowing for efficient benzylic C–H bond cleavage under mild conditions. Extensive mechanistic studies revealed that the enolization of 2-acylimidazole proceeded through dual iron