N-Iodosuccinimide as a Precatalyst for Direct Cross-Coupling of Alcohols withC-Nucleophiles under Solvent-Free Reaction Conditions

C-C bond formation is one of the most important implements in synthetic organic chemistry. In pursuit of effective synthetic routes functioning under greener pathways to achieve direct C-C bond formation, we reportN-iodosuccinimide (NIS) as the most effective precatalyst among theN-halosuccinimides (NXSs) for the direct cross-coupling of benzyl alcohols with C-nucleophiles under solvent-free reaction conditions (SFRC). The protocol is metal-free, and air- and water-tolerant, providing a large-scale synthesis with almost quantitative yields.