Practical and General Alcohol Deoxygenation Protocol

Herein, we describe a practical protocol for the removal of alcohol functional groups through reductive cleavage their benzoate ester analogs. This transformation requires strong single electron transfer (SET) reductant and means to accelerate slow fragmentation following substrate reduction. To accomplish this, developed photocatalytic system that generates potent from formate salts alongside Brønsted or Lewis acids promote reduced intermediate. deoxygenation procedure is effective across structurally electronically diverse alcohols enables variety difficult net transformations. no precautions exclude air moisture remains efficient on multigram scale. Finally, can be adapted one-pot benzoylation-deoxygenation sequence enable direct deletion. Mechanistic studies validate role acidic additives key C(sp3)−O bond step.