Facile One-pot Transformation of 2,3-Epoxy Alcohols into Allylic Alcohols

Optically-active allylic alcohols have been frequently used as chiral building blocks for the preparation of optically pure compounds.¹ There are at present various methods for the synthesis of optically active allylic alcohols including the kinetic resolution racemic allylic alcohols,² reductive rearrangement of 2,3-epoxy alcohol by metal, halide and telluium-based chemistry.³ To our knowledge, One-pot Transformation of 2,3-epoxy alcohols into allylic alcohols, especially via epoxy iodides,is limited to Dorta's method³ using a Ph₃P,iodine, imidazole,2,6-lutidine and water system. The original Dorta's method can be successfully applied to the formation of tertiary allylic alcohols, but give unsatisfactory results in formation of secondary allylic alcohols.