Synthesis of phenols via fluoride-free oxidation of arylsilanes and arylmethoxysilanes.

Rapid, efficient methods have been developed to prepare phenols from the oxidation of arylhydrosilanes. The effects of arene substituents and fluoride promoters on this process show that while electron-deficient arenes can undergo direct oxidation from the hydrosilane, electron-rich aromatics benefit from silane activation via oxidation to the methoxysilane using homogeneous or heterogeneous transition metal catalysis. The combination of these two oxidations into a streamlined flow procedure involving minimal processing of reaction intermediates is also reported.