Mild and Tunable Benzoic Acid Catalysts for Rearrangement Reactions of Allylic Alcohols

An efficient and simple catalytic method for the isomerization of readily prepared allylic alcohols is described. We focus particularly on cyclic examples and the synthesis of unusual enyne and dienols. The benzoic acid catalysts employed are commercially available and very inexpensive and can be tuned for reactivity and substrate sensitivity.