Additional Methods for Oxidizing Alcohols

Many other reagents and procedures have been developed for oxidizing alcohols. Some are simply modifications of the procedures we have seen. For example, the Collins reagent is a complex of chromium trioxide and pyridine, the original version of PCC. The Jones reagent is a milder form of chromic acid a solution of diluted chromic acid in acetone. 

A small fuel cell in this portable breath tester catalyzes the oxidation of ethanol by oxygen in the air. The oxidation generates an electric current that is proportional to the concentration of ethanol in the sample. 

The Swern oxidation uses dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as the oxidizing agent to convert alcohols to ketones and aldehydes. DMSO and oxalyl chloride are added to the alcohol at low temperature, followed by a hindered base such as triethylamine. Secondary alcohols are oxidized to ketones, and primary alcohols are oxidized only as far as the aldehyde. The byproducts of this reaction are all volatile and are easily separated from the organic products. 

The summary table on page 464 is worth reviewing. Remember that permanganate oxidizes aikenes as weii as aicohois. 

The Swern oxidation provides a useful alternative to PCC that avoids using chromium reagents as oxidants. 

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Oxidation States of Alcohols and Related Functional Groups 467 11-2 Oxidation of Alcohols 469 11-3 Additional Methods for Oxidizing Alcohols 472 11-4 Biological Oxidation of Alcohols 474 11-5 Alcohols as Nucleophiles and Electrophiles Formation ofTosylates 476... 

A method for oxidative cleavage of cyclic ketones involves a four-stage process. First, the ketone is converted to an a-phenylthio derivative (see Section 4.7). The ketone is then converted to an alcohol, either by reduction or addition of an organolithium reagent. This compound is then treated with lead tetraacetate to give an oxidation... 

Organic hydroperoxides have also been used for the oxidation of sulphoxides to sulphones. The reaction in neutral solution occurs at a reasonable rate in the presence of transition metal ion catalysts such as vanadium, molybdenum and titanium - , but does not occur in aqueous media . The usual reaction conditions involve dissolution of the sulphoxide in alcohols, ethers or benzene followed by dropwise addition of the hydroperoxide at temperatures of 50-80 °C. By this method dimethyl sulphoxide and methyl phenyl sulphoxide have been oxidized to the corresponding sulphone in greater than 90% yields . A similar method for the oxidation of sulphoxides has been patented . Unsaturated sulphoxides are oxidized to the sulphone without affecting the carbon-carbon double bonds. A further patent has also been obtained for the reaction of dimethyl sulphoxide with an organic hydroperoxide as shown in equation (19). 

Various experimental conditions have been used for oxidations of alcohols by Cr(VI) on a laboratory scale, and several examples are shown in Scheme 12.1. Entry 1 is an example of oxidation of a primary alcohol to an aldehyde. The propanal is distilled from the reaction mixture as oxidation proceeds, which minimizes overoxidation. For secondary alcohols, oxidation can be done by addition of an acidic aqueous solution containing chromic acid (known as Jones reagent) to an acetone solution of the alcohol. Oxidation normally occurs rapidly, and overoxidation is minimal. In acetone solution, the reduced chromium salts precipitate and the reaction solution can be decanted. Entries 2 to 4 in Scheme 12.1 are examples of this method. 

There have been few studies of the properties of pure compounds in these series of nonionics (5, 6). In our laboratory, the nonionics shown in Table IV and V have been synthesized by the addition of ethylene oxide under the same conditions to pure ethylene glycol monoethers, rather than to secondary or tertiary alcohols. This method has been found to give the same Poisson distribution of OE units and to be suitable for evaluating quantitatively the structural effects of the hydrophobe (7 ). 

Simultaneous publication of the iminium ion catalysed hydrophosphination of a,p-unsaturated aldehydes by Melchiorre and Cordova showed diarylprolinol silyl ether 55 was effective in the conjugate addition of diphenylphosphine 74 [117, 118], Direct transformation of the products allowed for one-pot methods for the preparation of P-phosphine alcohols 75 (72-85% yield 90-98% ee), P-phosphine oxide acids 76 (65% yield 92% ee) and 3-amino phosphines 77 (71% yield 87% ee) (Scheme 34). These reports represent the first examples of the addition of P-centred nucleophiles and the resulting highly functionalised products may well have further use in asymmetric catalysis. 

Intramolecular rhodium-catalyzed carbamate C-H insertion has broad utility for substrates fashioned from most 1° and 3° alcohols. As is typically observed, 3° and benzylic C-H bonds are favored over other C-H centers for amination of this type. Stereospecific oxidation of optically pure 3° units greatly facilitates the preparation of enantiomeric tetrasubstituted carbinolamines, and should find future applications in synthesis vide infra). Importantly, use of PhI(OAc)2 as a terminal oxidant for this process has enabled reactions with a class of starting materials (that is, 1° carbamates) for which iminoiodi-nane synthesis has not proven possible. Thus, by obviating the need for such reagents, substrate scope for this process and related aziridination reactions is significantly expanded vide infra). Looking forward, the versatility of this method for C-N bond formation will be advanced further with the advent of chiral catalysts for diastero- and enantio-controlled C-H insertion. In addition, new catalysts may increase the range of 2° alkanol-based carbamates that perform as viable substrates for this process. 

Phenyl-l,2,4-triazoline-3,5-dione also undergoes addition-abstraction reactions (e.g., with acetone17). As would be expected for such a species, it will oxidize alcohols to the corresponding aldehydes or ketones.20 This oxidation is especially mild (room temperature in benzene, chlorobenzene or ethyl acetate) and so is a valuable method of oxidizing, or preparing, compounds sensitive to acid, base, or heat. 

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