Radical Carbohydroxylation of Olefins with Aryl Diazonium Salts and TEMPO

Significance

In this paper, the authors describe a synthetically highly useful and elegant method for an intermolecular radical coupling between diazonium salts and non-activated olefins. This reaction is well suitable for the straightforward synthesis of compounds belonging to various structural classes. The products can easily be reduced to alcohols, so that this reaction is a formal addition of an aryl and a hydroxyl group to a double bond, proceeding with a surprising generality.