Molecular iodine as a mild catalyst for cross-coupling of alkenes and alcohols

C–C bond formation is one of the most fundamental approaches toward molecular diversity in organic synthesis. In pursuit of environmentally friendlier chemical approaches to organic chemistry, we present a new metal-free method for direct dehydrative cross-coupling of alcohols and alkenes using molecular iodine as a Lewis acid catalyst under solvent-free reaction conditions. The reaction is atom-economical, tolerant to air and allows simple synthetic procedure, furnishing Csp3–Csp2 coupling products with yields up to 97%. The method has proved efficient for coupling of secondary benzyl alcohols with phenyl-substituted alkenes.