Anodic Oxidation of Dithiane Carboxylic Acids: A Rapid, Mild and Practical Way to Access Functionalised Orthoesters

A new electrochemical methodology has been developed for the preparation of a wide variety of functionalised orthoesters under mild and green conditions from easily accessible dithiane derivatives. The new methodology also offers an unprecedented way to access tri(fluorinated) orthoesters, a class of compound that has never been studied before. This provides the community with a rapid and general method to prepare libraries of functionalised orthoesters from simple and readily available starting materials.