From oximes to tertiary alcohols in water, at room temperature and under air: a hybrid one-pot tandem assembly of enzymatic deoximation and RLi/RMgX reagents

The highly efficient biodeoximation of aromatic ketoximes, promoted by the enzymatic oxidative system laccase/TEMPO/O-2, has been successfully assembled with the fast and chemoselective addition of highly-polar s-block organometallic reagents (RLi/RMgX) en route to highly-substituted tertiary alcohols. By using this hybrid one-pot tandem protocol, tertiary alcohols have been selectively synthesized in good yields and under mild and bench-type reaction conditions (room temperature, the absence of a protecting atmosphere and aqueous media, which are non-typical conditions for polar organometallic reagents). The overall hybrid one-pot tandem transformation amalgamates two distant organic synthetic tools (RLi/RMgX reagents and enzymes) without the need for any tedious and energy/time-consuming intermediate isolation/purification steps.