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Mani Bhullar

Phenol preparation from Grignard reagent

David Adam Suddit  Follow

As requested by the OP - the route that lab chemists use to form phenols from aryl halides (not aryl fluorides) is via formation of the aryl boronic acid or boronate. These may be formed by either metallation of the aryl halides to form the aryl lithium or Grignard and reaction with a trialkyl borate $\ce{B(OR)3}$, or by Pd catalysed reaction with pinacol borane (Suzuki-Miyaura reaction). These boronates or boronic acids may be isolated, but in practice an oxidative workup, most often with basic peroxide, yields the phenol in good to excellent yield.

(read more links: 1, 2, 3)

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image from US7678158B2.

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Brian Lami  Follow

Thanks to @Avatar Shiny, I found the mechanism: (a link has been posted in the comments section)

For the sake of completeness, I add the mechanism here as an answer -enter image description here

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Jim Coombe  Follow
Does the oxygen lone pair or the electrons of the O−O bond attacks BrMg? Also what w/u means? Thanks in advance.More
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John R. Green  Follow
Why have an anion attack a negatively charged oxygen? The other oxygen of the hydroperoxy anion is the electrophile.More
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