Regioselective C-H Activation and Oxidative Coupling of Benzoic Acids

Significance

New methods for C-H activation in arenes are currently extensively studied. The present method has several advantages over the usual coupling reactions like the absence of waste and good availability of the starting materials. The authors report herein an interesting approach to the one-step synthesis of isocoumarines from benzoic acids, based on aromatic C-H activation and oxidative coupling. This is one of the first reports on the direct C-H activation of benzoic acids.