Oxidant for the Safe Synthesis of Hypervalent Iodine Compounds

Sodium hypochlorite pentahydrate (1) is an easy-to-handle crystalline solid oxidant which has higher stability than its aqueous solution counterpart. In the synthesis of trivalent iodide compounds such as (diaceteoxyiodo)arenes, sodium perborate tetrahydrate, sodium periodate and 3-chloroperoxybenzoic acid have been used have been used successfully but often require large reagent excess and have substrate limitations. However, 1 enables a simple, safe and rapid synthesis of (diacetoxyiodo)arenes. The (diacetoxyiodo)arene products are notably applicable in the preparation of several hypervalent iodine compounds such as hydroxyl(tosyloxy)iodobenzene, iodosylbenzene and iodonium ylides.