Congratulations to Qian Wu for her paper published on Chemical Science

Congratulations to Qian Wu for her paper published on Chemical Science, named ‘Unified Synthesis of Mono/bis-arylated Phenols via Rh(III)-catalyzed Dehydrogenative Coupling’. 2,6-Bis-arylated phenols are rarely reported and are synthetically challenging. Directed C–Hfunctionalization reactions, using a directing group (DG), might provide a convenient solution to theirsynthesis. However, this strategy usually results in partial cleavage of the directing group, preventingfurther/second C–H activation cascades. Herein Zhao group report a general strategy that allows for the precisecontrol of the oxidation pathways so that directing groups can be either preserved or cleaved. Zhao group foundthat N-phenoxyacetamides could undergo ortho-arylation reactions with or without an external oxidant,yielding products with different oxidation states, notably the rare bis-arylated phenols. Notably, a uniquerhodacycle intermediate was isolated, characterized by X-ray crystallography, and confirmed to be anactive catalyst. Switching between internal and external oxidation could be a general strategy in diversedirected C–H functionalization reactions to realize bis-functionalized products. This convenient,one-step synthesis of a series of DG-preserved products couldfacilitate the continued generation of a library of Fluorescentprobes. Switching between internal and external oxidationcould be a general strategy in other directed C–H functionalization reactions to realize the bis-functionalized products.