One-Pot Synthesis and Conformational Analysis of 6-Membered Cyclic Iodonium Salts

In this article we describe an efficient approach for the synthesis of cyclic diaryliodonium salts. The method is based on benzyl alcohols as starting materials and consists of an Friedel-Crafts-arylation/oxidation sequence. Besides a deep optimization, particluar focusing on the choice and ratios of the utilized Bronsted-acids and oxidants, we explore the substrate scope of this transformation. We also discuss an interesting isomerism of cyclic iodonium salts substituted with aliphatic substituents at the bridge head carbon.