Graphene oxide (GO) and carboxylic acid functionalized GO (GO–CO2H) have been found to efficiently promote the heterogeneous and environmentally friendly pinacol rearrangement of 1,2-diols and the direct nucleophilic substitution of allylic alcohols. In general, high yields and regioselectivities are obtained in both reactions using 20 wt % of catalyst loading and mild reaction conditions.Financial support from the University of Alicante (UAUSTI16-03, VIGROB-173), and Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (CTQ2015-66624-P) is acknowledged
