Selective and efficient oxidative modifications of flavonoids with 2-iodoxybenzoic acid (IBX)

2-Iodoxybenzoic acid (IBX), a mild and efficient hypervalent iodine oxidant, has been utilised in different reaction conditions to perform several efficient oxidative modifications of flavonoids. Fine-tuning of the reaction conditions allowed remarkably selective modifications of these compounds. At room temperature, IBX proved to be an excellent reagent for a highly regioselective aromatic hydroxylation of monohydroxylated flavanones and flavones, generating the corresponding catecholic derivatives showing high antioxidant activity. At 90 °C, IBX efficiently dehydrogenated a large panel of methoxylated flavanones to their corresponding flavones exhibiting anticancer activity. IBX polystyrene has also been utilised to increase the recovery of highly polar compounds. Following the first oxidation, the reagent was recovered and reused in several runs without loss of efficiency and selectivity. The first example of an application of IBX polystyrene in a dehydrogenation reaction has been described.