Hypervalent Iodine Catalyzed Cyclization of Aryl‐Substituted Alkanoic Acids

A novel and efficient procedure was developed for direct preparation of aryl‐substituted lactones from corresponding aryl‐substituted alkanoic acids, catalyzed by the in situ generated hypervalent iodine intermediate from iodobenzene (PhI). In this protocol, aryl‐substituted alkanoic acids were treated with m‐chloroperbenzoic acid (mCPBA) and KBr in the presence of a catalytic amount of PhI in 2,2,2‐trifluoroethanol at room temperature for 24 h, resulting in corresponding aryl lactones in moderate‐to‐good yields.