Formylation of activated arenes by phenyl formate: implications for the mechanism of the Fries rearrangement of aryl formates

We present an NMR and DFT investigation of the reaction of phenyl formate with 3-methoxyphenol and 3,5-dimethoxyphenol with excess BCl3. The products obtained (3-methoxy- and 3,5-dimethoxy-salicylaldehyde, respectively) are the same as those resulting from the Fries rearrangement of 3-methoxy- and 3,5-dimethoxy-phenyl formate. These results represent a novel regioselective synthetic route to aromatic aldehydes, using phenyl formate as a source of formylating agent. They also unambiguously prove that the Fries rearrangement of aryl formates (that we recently investigated in J. Org. Chem. 71, 9331-9340, 2006) is intermolecular: the intermediate formyl chloride is released in situ and, in turn, it formylates the intermediate dichloroborate ester of 3-methoxy- and 3,5-dimethoxy-phenol in a second independent step. The --BCl2 moiety bound to the aryl oxygen of the substituted phenol interacts with the formyl chloride strongly favouring the ortho substitution.