Stereoselective organocatalytic oxidation of alcohols to enals: a homologation method to prepare polyenes

A novel method for organocatalytic oxidation through oxidative enamine catalysis was developed with excellent compatibility for the direct syntheses of enals from simple saturated alcohols. By using this amine-catalyzed IBX-oxidation, a wide range of aromatic and aliphatic substituted enals were successfully generated in high yields and exclusively stereoselective E-geometry. Moreover, varying the solvents and/or the loading amounts of IBX allowed for the selective oxidation of alcohols and aldehydes. Importantly, the homologous application of this method provided a selective and efficient way of preparing various highly sensitive conjugated polyene frameworks, which are enriched in natural products.