A visible-light-enabled one-pot strategy for the Baeyer-Villiger oxidation via diaryltellurium redox catalysis.

We report the first example of a Baeyer-Villiger oxidation catalyzed by an organotellurium species. A visible-light-enabled one-pot strategy was developed in which catalytic amounts of a diaryltelluride and a carboxylic acid generate the active diaryltellurium di-carboxylate species in situ under visible-light irradiation. The resulting redox-active tellurium catalyst promotes the Baeyer-Villiger oxidation of ketones using hydrogen peroxide as the terminal oxidant, efficiently converting cyclic ketones to the corresponding lactones under mild conditions. This operationally simple protocol demonstrates the potential of organotellurium redox catalysis for sustainable oxygen-transfer reactions.