Synlett 2015; 26(20): 2731-2738
DOI: 10.1055/s-0034-1381059
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© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

Adapting Melanogenesis to a Regioselective C–H Functionalization of Phenols

Kenneth Virgel N. Esguerra
Department of Chemistry, McGill University, 801 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 0B8, Canada   Email: jean-philip.lumb@mcgill.ca
,
Jean-Philip Lumb*
Department of Chemistry, McGill University, 801 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 0B8, Canada   Email: jean-philip.lumb@mcgill.ca
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

Received: 10 June 2015

Accepted: 04 August 2015

Publication Date:
16 September 2015 (online)


Abstract

The importance of aromatic carbon–heteroatom bonds to the function of natural products, electronic materials, and pharmaceutically active compounds motivates considerable effort to improve the efficiency of constructing these bonds. Melanogenesis, which is a ubiquitous process by which organisms produce pigments, generates functional materials with high heteroatom content from simple phenolic precursors at the sole expense of reducing molecular oxygen to water. This article outlines our efforts towards the development of a tyrosinase mimic for the aerobic oxygenation of phenols that were inspired by melanogenesis, and highlights its potential to functionalize multiple aromatic C–H bonds in a single operation.