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A combination of weakly coordinating auxiliaries and ligand acceleration allows for the development of both ortho- and meta-selective C–H olefination of phenol derivatives. These reactions demonstrate the feasibility of directing C–H functionalizations when functional groups are distal to target C–H bonds. The meta-C–H functionalization of electron-rich phenol derivatives is unprecedented and orthogonal to previous electrophilic substitution of phenols in terms of regioselectivity. These methods are also applied to functionalize α-phenoxyacetic acids, a fibrate class of drug scaffolds.

Tandem reaction sequences that selectively convert multiple C–H bonds of abundant hydrocarbon feedstocks to functionalized materials enable rapid buildup of molecular complexity in an economical way. A tandem C–H amination/vinylic C–H arylation reaction sequence is described under Pd(II)/sulfoxide-catalysis that furnishes a wide range of α- and β-homophenylalanine precursors from commodity α-olefins and readily available aryl boronic acids. General routes to enantiopure amino acid esters and densely functionalized homophenylalanine derivatives are demonstrated.

Diastereoselective aldol coupling reactions with butane-2,3-diacetal (BDA) protected glyceraldehyde derivatives are reported. Good selectivities of up to 20 : 1 for the homologated aldol products have been achieved in preparatively useful yields.