2-chloro-4-methylphenol, 2-fluoro-4-methylphenol (Chem Scene), 2-bromo-4-methylphenol,
titanium(IV) isopropoxide (Aldrich), 2,4-dimethylphenol (Fluka), N,N-diethylethylenediamine (Alfa Aesar),
formaldehyde 37% (J.T. Baker), and methanol (Bio-lab) were used as
received. Tetrahydrofuran (Bio-lab) was dried by solvent purifiers
MB-SPS. Elemental analysis of C, H, and N was performed on a Thermo
Flash 2000 CHN-O elemental analyzer; Elemental analysis of Cl, Br,
and F was performed by Anton Paar Microwave Induced Oxygen Combustion
(MIC) for the decomposition of organic samples by Dionex LC20 ion
chromatography. High-resolution mass spectrometry was conducted using
a Q Exactive Plus mass spectrometer (Thermo Fisher Scientific) coupled
with a Dionex UltiMate 3000 UPLC system (Thermo Fisher Scientific).
Solutions for 1H and 13C NMR spectra were prepared
in DMSO-d6 or THF-d8 (Cambridge Isotope Laboratories, INC), measured at 400 and
125 MHz, respectively, and analyzed with TopSpin 4.0.6, Bruker Corporation.
The chemical shifts were referenced to Me4Si (δ 0.00
ppm) and DMSO-d6 (δ 2.5 ppm) or
THF d8 (δ 3.58 and 1.72 ppm). Hydrolysis
studies were performed by 1H NMR spectroscopy at 298 K
with 32 scans using 1,4-dinitrobenzene (Sigma Aldrich) as the internal
standard, recording the spectra at 500 MHz.