We report herein a cerium photocatalyzed aryl migration from an aryl ether to a carboxylic acid group through radical-Smiles rearrangement. This operationally simple protocol utilizes inexpensive CeCl3 as a photocatalyst and converted a variety of 2-aryloxybenzoic acids into aryl-2-hydroxybenzoates in good yields.
Herein, we report a catalytic radical-Smiles rearrangement system of arene migration from ether to carboxylic acid with riboflavin tetraacetate (RFT), a readily available ester of natural vitamin B2, as the photocatalyst and water as a green solvent, being free of external oxidant, base, metal, inert gas protection, and lengthy reaction time. Not only the known substituted 2-phenyloxybenzoic acids