[1,2]-Wittig Rearrangement of THP Acetal Compounds: Facile Synthesis of Aromatic Tertiary Alcohols

Several sec-aromatic THP acetal compounds have been found to be suitable substrates for the [1,2]-Wittig rearrangement in the absence of an external electrophile, which resulted in the generation of new carbon-carbon bond and the facile synthesis of aromatic tertiary alcohols. More interestingly, an unexpected effect of chlorotrimethylsilane on this [1,2]-Wittig rearrangement of sec-aromatic THP acetal compounds was found, in which two different products involving oxidative procedure were obtained due to the competitive [1,4]-Sigmatropic rearrangement versus [1,2]-Wittig rearrangement