Copper-catalyzed oxidative aromatization of 2-cyclohexen-1-ones to phenols in the presence of catalytic hydrogen bromide under molecular oxygen

Catalytic oxidative aromatization has been achieved using 2-cyclohexen-1-ones to obtain phenol derivatives in the presence of a catalytic amount of copper salt and aqueous HBr under molecular oxygen. The amount of HBr was successfully reduced to a catalytic quantity, and the other additive such as a ligand and an oxidant as well as inert conditions were unnecessary. Various mono-, di-, and trisubstituted phenols with substituents at the desired positions could be synthesized under cheap and simple conditions. An oxidative aromatization/bromination sequence was also demonstrated to obtain bromophenols with excess HBr.