Electroreductive Cross-Electrophile Coupling of Aromatic Ketones and N,N-Dimethylformamide Enabling the Synthesis of α-Hydroxyaldehydes.

α-Hydroxyaldehydes are powerful multifunctional structural motifs for the production of clinical drugs and value-added compounds. The known methods typically suffer from limitations such as the requirement for strong bases, toxic reagents, and the necessity of multistep reactions. Here, we developed a straightforward synthetic method of α-hydroxyaldehydes via an electroreductive umpolung formylation of aromatic ketones utilizing readily available N,N-dimethylformamide as formylation reagents. This approach will provide an efficient strategy for the acquisition of α-hydroxyaldehydes.